Researchers report that an experiment involving 32 people, representing recreational fishers, commercial fishers, and fisheries managers in striped bass fisheries in Massachusetts, finds that when participants were asked to construct conceptual models of social-ecological interdependencies affecting the fishery, models developed by aggregating viewpoints from diverse roles were closer to the model developed by experts than were models developed by aggregating viewpoints from a homogenous group; the results highlight the benefit of diversity in collective problem-solving.
Article #20-16887: "The diversity bonus in pooling local knowledge about complex problems," by Payam Aminpour et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Payam Aminpour, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; tel: 517-940-0309; email: aminpour@msu.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences