Tag Archives: Psychology

The c Factor: Collective Intelligence is Distinct from Individual Intelligence

One of the most replicated results in psychological research shows that people who do well on one mental task tend to do well on most others. Technically, this is referred to as the g factor or general intelligence factor that takes into account a large chunk of the differences in intelligence amongst people. The new paper “Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups” (published October 29, 2010 in Science) asked if there is a similar factor for groups of people that would define a group’s collective intelligence factor, the c factor, which would be distinct from individual general intelligence factors.

They found that a general collective intelligence factor exists in groups. They found that the c factor was distinct from (was not predicted by) the average individual intelligence of the group members. Also, group cohesion, motivation, and satisfaction were not good predictors of the value of the c factor. Three factors were significant predictors of the value of the c factor: average social sensitivity, the equal distribution of conversational turn taking, and the proportion of females in the group. It turned out that the last factor, the number of females in the group, was due to the first, average social sensitivity. The females in the study scored higher than the males in social sensitivity and, in fact, there’s been a lot of research that suggests females are more socially sensitive.

If the c factor does exist as this research suggests, I wonder how the results of research published this past August may fit in. The study showed that when two people with different abilities collaborate, they perform worse as a team than the best performer would on their own (see my blog post “Two Minds Better Than One? Sometimes Worse!“).


Other related blog posts:

Two Minds Better Than One? Sometimes Worse!

Not Being Present in the Moment Takes Emotional Toll

Perhaps you’ve heard about being mindful from practitioners of meditation or maybe you try to be mindful in your everyday life. Then you know that being mindful is about being present in the moment. New research suggests that those who are mindful are happier.

Research described in the paper “A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind” (published November 12, 2010 in Science) utilizes an iPhone application to accumulate experience sampling data to an online data repository at TrackYourHappiness.org. According to the authors, experience sampling is the most reliable method for investigating real-world emotions. The technique involves randomly contacting people as they engage in their everyday activities and asking them to report their thoughts, feelings, and actions at that moment.

The team reported three findings from their research based on data from 2,250 adults living in the United States. First, people’s minds frequently wander (46.9% of samples). Second, they found that people were less happy while their minds were wandering than when they were not. This was true during all activities. Third, they found that what people were thinking about was a better predictor of their happiness than was what they were doing.

Our ability to think of things that are not presently happening seems to take an emotional toll. Why is mind wandering apparently the brain’s default mode of operation? Stimulus independent thought is apparently what enables people to reason and plan.

Would you like to track your personal happiness and find out what factors are associated with greater happiness for you personally? You can become a participant at TrackYourHappiness.org. When you do you’ll also contribute to studies like the one reviewed here and help to increase our scientific understanding of happiness.


Other related blog posts:

How Happy? Well-Being Research and Online Data Repositories

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Associated Differences in Brain Connections

Research using a combination of genome-wide association studies and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has lead to an outpouring of genetic variants related to specific diseases and their association with specific differences in brain anatomy and functional connectivity. One of the striking realizations from this work is that the genetic variants and the associated differences in brain anatomy and functional connectivity are found in the general population, in people who are apparently healthy both physically and psychologically.

The brief paper “Neural Mechanisms of a Genome-Wide Supported Psychosis Variant” published May 1, 2009 in Science describes functional brain connections specific to a genetic variant (technically a single-nucleotide polymorphism or SNP pronounced “snip”) known as rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene. This particular version of the gene (the risk allele) is associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The research team imaged the brains of 115 genotyped healthy people without diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The results showed that those carrying the risk allele have reduced functional connectivity within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and increased functional connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the hippocampal formation. These findings are consistent with the disturbed executive function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in those with schizophrenia.

The results also showed that those carrying the risk allele have extensive increases in functional connections between the amygdala and various other brain areas including the hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex. These findings are consistent with emotional instability observed in those diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

How a risk allele interacts with other alleles, environmental factors, or other unknown factors to result in the emergence of a disease like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder remains a mystery. Why are healthy people able to carry a risk allele without any apparent ill effects? Why do some people with the same risk allele have schizophrenia but others have bipolar disorder? We don’t know but we seem to be on track for discovering some of the answers in the not too distant future.


Other related blog posts:

Autism or Autism Trait in the Normal Population? The Crisis of Defining Normal

Genetics of Autism: Challenging Psychiatric Classifications