We may assume or generally believe that collaborating with others helps us to solve problems more effectively and make better decisions, but is it really true? Scientists at University College London and Aarhus University, Denmark did a study that showed that two heads can definitely be better than one, if both partners are competent and are able to discuss their findings.
In the first few trials, pairs of study subjects were asked to indicate when they perceived a signal on a computer. If one person detected the signal and the other did not, they were able to talk about what had occurred and arrive at an answer which was correct more often than what one subject would have achieved alone. So in the case of two competent partners who are able to talk freely about their findings, this is one situation where a group actually does make better decisions than its best member. Communication was found to be absolutely necessary for the group to perform better than the best-performing individual, but feedback on which partner had been correct was not necessary for the group’s continued success.
That doesn’t mean that more input is always better, however. In an experiment where one subject was caused to have a lower quality environment or lower competence – a noisy image where the signal was harder to detect, the pair of partners performed more poorly than it would have without the input of the “incompetent” partner. The partner who was more “competent” or sensitive to the signal would have had a higher percentage of correct answers without any collaboration at all.
When I’m solving problems and brainstorming with a partner, I find we get our best innovative ideas when my partner has a similar but not identical personality to mine and when we both feel free to talk about disagreements. We should be close enough in how we think that we can understand and communicate well and agree on a lot of what we may perceive, but just far enough apart to create some interesting counterpoint. After all, your two eyes give your brain a three-dimensional view because they are pretty close together and looking toward the same object, but have slightly different viewpoints. Those two views are processed by your brain to make a better picture than either eye has alone.
How do you like to solve problems and make decisions? Do you find that you arrive at better quality decisions when working with a group or alone?
Reference:
Optimally Interacting Minds
Science 27 August 2010:
Vol. 329. no. 5995, pp. 1081 – 1085
DOI: 10.1126/science.1185718
Photo credit: kimbospacenut
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I am a champion of collaboration, because sometimes a person can spin an idea just a little better.
Yes, collaboration’s great, especially when people can really grab one another’s ideas and take them even farther.
I’m an introvert so I prefer to work alone. At times when I work with a partner, i tend to be more lenient and incompetent. But when I’m with myself, I tend to get more alert and responsible. I guess that’s how it should be done. I’m better off alone. LOL
Today most companies require you to be a team-player, to know how to collaborate with your colleagues, but I trust that sometimes it’s best to work alone. I’m one of those persons who are better alone: I have my own timing, I know my strengths and my weak points. Working alone can be more productive than working inside a team, so there’s nothing wrong with this.
Hi Mia, No there’s definitely nothing wrong with working alone, and many times working in a group just makes the results worse than what would have come from one good person working alone. On the other hand, if there’s a specific problem to brainstorm on and you have a good partner whose skills and thinking complement yours, you two may come up with something even better. I like it both ways – as long as the partner is good.
This is a good question.
Same as you Christie, I prefer to work with someone who I’m able to communicate with, open minded and free to discuss about pros/cons of each suggestion without hurting anybody’s feelings. I think it’s important for a team to know that everyone is contributing for the goodness of the project, and no personal attack is needed in this. ^^ So to me, personality & mutual understanding is quite an important factor to ensure a smooth collaboration.
It’s great to work in a team, but in some cases where it’s hard to have a harmonious discussion with someone/conflict in personality, I don’t mind working alone too (if my ability permits).
Very true – it’s important for the ideas to be discussed respectfully and with no personal attacks, and that helps everyone to feel free to contribute to the discussion! I don’t mind working alone either – as you say though – as long as I know how to handle the issue by myself.
Some problems are difficult to solve. But there are a lot of number expressions that can help. For example, if we put two and two together, we might come up with the right answer. We know that two heads are better than one. It is always better to work with another person to solve a problem.
Some problems may be solved more easily by two people working together than by one working alone
Always 2 heads needed,one for work and another for support.It will helps to share and contribute things.
I believe that 2 is better than one if they are both competent and communicate as what the article said,.But as an SEO consultant I prefer to work alone to see the results of my techniques,.
Depending on what the problem is, I can say I could be both – it’s okay with me to work in a team, but if I could do it myself, then I’m fine working alone.
“No man is an island.” This tells us no matter how independent we are, we still need other people’s help sometimes.
On the other hand, I could say there were times I didn’t like being in a team because of conflicting interests, ideas, and most of my team members wanted to be the leader.
This is the exact reason why I think online classes don’t work as well as traditional classroom settings. You need someone to bump heads with! The interaction helps you learn better and arrive at answers better rather than just trying to learn everything yourself. The convenience of online classes is not worth trading the actual learning for.
Coloboration is the solve to the problem.This is a inviolable factor.
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