Behavioral experiments on biased voting in networks.

ABSTRACT: Many distributed collective decision-making processes must balance diverse individual preferences with a desire for collective unity. We report here on an extensive session of behavioral experiments on biased voting in networks of individuals. In each of 81 experiments, 36 human subjects arranged in a virtual network were financially motivated to reach global consensus to one of two opposing choices. No payments were made unless the entire population reached a unanimous decision within 1 min, but different subjects were paid more for consensus to one choice or the other, and subjects could view only the current choices of their network neighbors, thus creating tensions between private incentives and preferences, global unity, and network structure. Along with analyses of how collective and

SUBMITTER: Kearns M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2630202 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature