Pre-screening workers to overcome bias amplification in online labour markets

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 23;16(3):e0249051. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249051. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Groups have access to more diverse information and typically outperform individuals on problem solving tasks. Crowdsolving utilises this principle to generate novel and/or superior solutions to intellective tasks by pooling the inputs from a distributed online crowd. However, it is unclear whether this particular instance of "wisdom of the crowd" can overcome the influence of potent cognitive biases that habitually lead individuals to commit reasoning errors. We empirically test the prevalence of cognitive bias on a popular crowdsourcing platform, examining susceptibility to bias of online panels at the individual and aggregate levels. We then investigate the use of the Cognitive Reflection Test, notable for its predictive validity for both susceptibility to cognitive biases in test settings and real-life reasoning, as a screening tool to improve collective performance. We find that systematic biases in crowdsourced answers are not as prevalent as anticipated, but when they occur, biases are amplified with increasing group size, as predicted by the Condorcet Jury Theorem. The results further suggest that pre-screening individuals with the Cognitive Reflection Test can substantially enhance collective judgement and improve crowdsolving performance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bias
  • Crowdsourcing
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Job Application*
  • Judgment
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Problem Solving*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

The research reported herein is partly based upon work supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), under contract (2017-16122000002). Views and conclusions herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of ODNI, IARPA or the United States Government. The United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright annotation therein.