Schwarmdummheit

I expect that, like me, you’re familiar with the wisdom of the crowd – but have you heard of it’s opposite? Until recently I hadn’t.

Glancing through tweets the other day I came across this tweet from Ron:

@sensor63 @jennymackness Ever heard of “Schwarmdummheit”, social process in groups that leads to a group decision worse than any individual?

— Ronald_2008 (@ronald_2008) April 17, 2016

Yes! Swarm stupidity. Exactly. This is what happens to intelligent people when they’re forced to spend all of their time in meetings with managers, or being managed by managers.

it’s not about stupid individuals forming a swarm, but about intelligent individuals who surprisingly behave stupidly as a group. Gunter Dueck

Do you have a manager who likes to ask you to give 110%? Be warned – you are in danger of falling into Schwarmdummheit. Managers, according to Dweck, avoid thinking by going to meetings. Do you know a manager like that?

In his longish presentation Dweck also introduces us to SABTA individuals (this quote is screenshot from the presentation below).

I’m sure this will resonate with some of us. These individuals, he says, often suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Here’s a version of the presentation in English (thanks Ron)