Pre-screening workers to overcome bias amplification in online labour markets
File(s)journal.pone.0249051.pdf (1.64 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Vercammen, Ans
Marcoci, Alexandru
Burgman, Mark
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Groups have access to more diverse information and typically outperform individuals on problem solving tasks. Crowdsolving utilises this principle to generate novel and/or superior solutions to intellective tasks by pooling the inputs from a distributed online crowd. However, it is unclear whether this particular instance of “wisdom of the crowd” can overcome the influence of potent cognitive biases that habitually lead individuals to commit reasoning errors. We empirically test the prevalence of cognitive bias on a popular crowdsourcing platform, examining susceptibility to bias of online panels at the individual and aggregate levels. We then investigate the use of the Cognitive Reflection Test, notable for its predictive validity for both susceptibility to cognitive biases in test settings and real-life reasoning, as a screening tool to improve collective performance. We find that systematic biases in crowdsourced answers are not as prevalent as anticipated, but when they occur, biases are amplified with increasing group size, as predicted by the Condorcet Jury Theorem. The results further suggest that pre-screening individuals with the Cognitive Reflection Test can substantially enhance collective judgement and improve crowdsolving performance.
Date Issued
2021-03-23
Date Acceptance
2021-03-08
Citation
PLoS One, 2021, 16 (3)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS One
Volume
16
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Vercammen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
General Science & Technology
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e0249051