Collective Induction: Twelve Postulates

Abstract

Collective induction is the cooperative search for descriptive, predictive, and explanatory generalizations, rules, and principles. This article presents 12 postulates on collective induction and supportive evidence for the postulates. Postulates 1–6 set collective induction within the general social combination approach to cooperative group decision making. Postulates 7 and 8 formalize the social combination processes of group hypothesis formation in collective induction. Postulates 9–12 summarize research on collective versus individual induction, the relative importance of multiple hypotheses and multiple evidence, influence in simultaneous collective and individual induction, and the relative effectiveness of positive and negative hypothesis tests. We then consider the history and fundamental emphasis of the social combination approach to small group performance.