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Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making

A. J. King, C. Narraway, L. Hodgson, A. Weatherill, V. Sommer, S. Sumner, Andrew King Orcid Logo

Biology Letters, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Pages: 237 - 240

Swansea University Author: Andrew King Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0808

Abstract

Social foraging in humans has a deep evolutionary history: early hominids searched for dispersed food sources in a patchy, uncertain environment. A fundamental assumption is that social foragers benefit by exchanging information about food sources, in order to make collective decisions based on pool...

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Published in: Biology Letters
ISSN: 1744-9561 1744-957X
Published: 2011
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13511
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first_indexed 2013-07-23T12:10:24Z
last_indexed 2018-02-09T04:44:18Z
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spelling 2017-12-18T10:22:32.0045773 v2 13511 2012-12-05 Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642 0000-0002-6870-9767 Andrew King Andrew King true false 2012-12-05 SBI Social foraging in humans has a deep evolutionary history: early hominids searched for dispersed food sources in a patchy, uncertain environment. A fundamental assumption is that social foragers benefit by exchanging information about food sources, in order to make collective decisions based on pooled information. We conducted the first experimental test of this assumption, and showed that, as predicted, communication significantly enhanced group performance. A further, unexpected result was that physical communicationthrough gesturing, rather than verbal communication, appeared to play a crucial role in the early stages of group interaction, facilitating consensus decision making by groups. The importance of gestures in human interactions may therefore be underestimated,and this has important implications for modern human societies, where communications are becoming increasingly dominated by virtual modes of communication that preclude the use of gestures. Journal Article Biology Letters 7 2 237 240 1744-9561 1744-957X 31 12 2011 2011-12-31 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0808 Article addendum appeared in Communicative and Integrative Biology DOI: 10.4161/cib.4.6.17701 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2017-12-18T10:22:32.0045773 2012-12-05T10:33:45.6471546 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences A. J. King 1 C. Narraway 2 L. Hodgson 3 A. Weatherill 4 V. Sommer 5 S. Sumner 6 Andrew King 0000-0002-6870-9767 7
title Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
spellingShingle Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
Andrew King
title_short Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
title_full Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
title_fullStr Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
title_full_unstemmed Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
title_sort Performance of human groups in social foraging: the role of communication in consensus decision making
author_id_str_mv cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642
author_id_fullname_str_mv cc115b4bc4672840f960acc1cb078642_***_Andrew King
author Andrew King
author2 A. J. King
C. Narraway
L. Hodgson
A. Weatherill
V. Sommer
S. Sumner
Andrew King
format Journal article
container_title Biology Letters
container_volume 7
container_issue 2
container_start_page 237
publishDate 2011
institution Swansea University
issn 1744-9561
1744-957X
doi_str_mv 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0808
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Social foraging in humans has a deep evolutionary history: early hominids searched for dispersed food sources in a patchy, uncertain environment. A fundamental assumption is that social foragers benefit by exchanging information about food sources, in order to make collective decisions based on pooled information. We conducted the first experimental test of this assumption, and showed that, as predicted, communication significantly enhanced group performance. A further, unexpected result was that physical communicationthrough gesturing, rather than verbal communication, appeared to play a crucial role in the early stages of group interaction, facilitating consensus decision making by groups. The importance of gestures in human interactions may therefore be underestimated,and this has important implications for modern human societies, where communications are becoming increasingly dominated by virtual modes of communication that preclude the use of gestures.
published_date 2011-12-31T03:15:28Z
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