In crowd wisdom, the 'surprisingly popular' answer can trump ignorance of the masses
Monday, February 6, 2017 - 14:31
in Psychology & Sociology
Crowd wisdom tends to favor the most popular information, not necessarily the most correct -- mass ignorance can cancel out a knowledgeable minority, resulting in the wrong answer becoming the most accepted. To improve wisdom-of-crowds surveys, researchers have developed what they call the 'surprisingly popular' algorithm, wherein the correct answer is that which is more popular than people predict.