Crowd wisdom enhanced by costly signaling in a virtual rating system.

ABSTRACT: Costly signaling theory was developed in both economics and biology and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena. However, the theory's prediction that signal cost can enforce information quality in the design of new communication systems has never been put to an empirical test. Here we show that imposing time costs on reporting extreme scores can improve crowd wisdom in a previously cost-free rating system. We developed an online game where individuals interacted repeatedly with simulated services and rated them for satisfaction. We associated ratings with differential time costs by endowing the graphical user interface that solicited ratings from the users with "physics," including an initial (default) slider position and friction. When ratings were not associated with differen

SUBMITTER: Tchernichovski O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6462092 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature