The Social Group as an Information Processing System

This chapter takes the theory to the group level, using computer simulations to analyze social influence as socially distributed information processing. In so doing, this line of research identifies conditions under which the delegation of processing to others can lead to errors, resulting in opinions and decisions that are counter-productive and sometimes disastrous for the group. Trust is a dynamic variable that plays the role of the control parameter in the delegation of information processing. When the level of trust is optimal, the process results in accurate judgments and effective use of the group’s processing resources. Trust, however, is not always optimal, but rather can be too high or too low. When trust is too high, the process tends to promote over-confidence and erroneous judgments. When trust is too low, the process become inefficient and promotes the redundant processing of information.