Collective Smarts: Diversity Emerges
Researchers in the United States have found that putting individual geniuses together into a team doesn’t add up to one intelligent whole. Instead, they found, group intelligence is linked to social skills, taking turns, and the proportion of women in the group.
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“We didn’t expect that the proportion of women would be a significant influence, but we found that it was,” Prof. Woolley, an organizational psychologist, said in an interview. “The effect was linear, meaning the more women, the better.”
The Globe and Mail, “If you want collective smarts…” [link to http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/if-you-want-collective-smarts-include-women-in-your-group/article1736571/ no longer works] In her interview with Quarks and Quirks, Woolley was careful to say that it wasn’t gender per se, but social awareness, but that such awareness correlates strongly with gender.