Social choice theory, social decision scheme theory, and group decision-making

Abstract

Social choice theory and social decision scheme theory address the fundamental issue: How does a society or small group combine or aggregate a distribution of member preferences in a collective decision by known or possible voting rules and parliamentary procedures? However, research in each area has proceeded in relative independence of the other. This article (a) summarizes the major concepts of social choice theory, (b) summarizes the major concepts of social decision scheme theory, (c) presents illustrative research, (d) considers corresponding and complementary emphases of the two theories, and (e) suggests three interrelated areas of future research on group decision-making: preference for different social choice rules; successive decisions in a hierarchical system with random assignment of members at the initial level; successive decisions in a hierarchical system with nonrandom assignment of members at the initial level (gerrymandering).

Resolving governance disputes in communities: A study of software license decisions

“…Even if x is low, the probability (denoted as p) that at least one individual will do so successfully (i.e., the emergence of reflective agency in the group), which is 1-(1-x) n , grows rapidly with group size n. For instance, p is close to 80% even if x is only 30% for n = 5. This is a corollary of the Condorcet jury theorem well established in experimental and field research on group problem solving and decision making (Laughlin, 2011;Lorge & Solomon, 1955;Nemeth, 1986;Wittenbaum & Stasser, 1996). Therefore, a problem-solving perspective (Laughlin, 2011) provides a fitting explanation for what we have observed.…”

Model of Learning “SHARINGPLUS” for Higher Level Students Viewed from Sociological Perspectives

“…The theory can be combined with Social decision scheme theory of Davis (1975) which proposes: (a) group decisions combine or aggregate a distribution of member preferences to form a collective response, (b) different processes such as majority, truth wins, or proportionality may be formalized as social decision schemes, and (c) the predictions of different decision schemes may be competitively tested against actual group decisions as tests of the group processes modeled by the decision schemes." (Laughlin, 2011) In forming a collective response, lecturer can take the concept of social welfare as the basis to define social choice problems. He or she then arranges the preferences as a set of alternatives of tasks (Candeal, 2013).…”

Ensuring Resident Competence: A Narrative Review of the Literature on Group Decision Making to Inform the Work of Clinical Competency Committees

“…[14][15][16] The rules or procedures used constitute the social decision scheme; these procedures may be explicitly stated or be developed by the group as it does its work. 17 SDS theory highlights the importance of distinguishing shared versus unshared information to understand group deliberations. 18 Shared information is held among multiple members, whereas unshared information is known solely by 1 or a few members.…”