Olga Khazan disproves the theory "wisdom of the crowd" with an experiment conducted by the Arizona State University and Uppsala University. Where crowds may be better in tough choices, research has shown that individuals fare better at choosing between two options, one which is obviously better. So to say, the crowd is stupid when faced with easy problems. The researchers used ants to conduct their experiments because ants usually work in groups. They had a total of 100 ants and gave them two nest options, one which was clearly better. However, the group of ants chose the lesser choice. Researchers explained that this occurred because some of the ants would go to the worse nest and call the other ants and the other ants would blindly follow them and not even look at the other choice. However, when the ants were working individually, they would make the right choices because no one would mislead them. This same idea does occur in humans because those around would make rash choices and others would follow their lead.
Olga Khazan uses past experiences and opinions to finalize her essay and backs it up with research. She uses real life examples to make her stand more plausible. The tone of the essay is more casual and she uses personal pronouns instead of taking a formal stance. The use of research to back up her stance was very good but she did a poor job is relating it to humans and showing exactly how similar it was to humans. She only provided examples where it would occur. She does, however, wrap up her essay with a clear sentence of humans following others who have made rash decisions.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-stupidity-of-the-crowd/278188/#disqus_thread
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