The U.S. presidential election, American Idol, and the Academy Awards have one thing in common: Lots of people come together to decide the winner. Scientists are finding that such collective decision-making is much more complicated than it appears on the surface. The uninformed play an important role in keeping a group from getting hijacked by minority opinions, for example. What else are researchers learning about groupthink? Do humans make decisions differently from the way other animals do? And how might research into decision-making affect everything from television advertising to presidential campaigns?
Join us for a live chat at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday, 12 April, on this page. You can leave your questions in the comment box below before the chat starts.
Iain Couzin
Jevin West
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