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information elaboration (ie)

📖 Definitions

"the exchange of information and perspectives, individual-level processing of the information and perspectives, feeding back the results of this individual-level processing into the group, and discussion and integration of their implications" (Homan et al. 2007, 1189). "IE [information elaboration] can be characterized as consisting of the following three steps: (1) communication of dispersed cognitive resources, (2) integration in which individual group members generate results by conjoining communications with the cognitive resources at their disposal, and (3) iteration of the first two steps given new resulting dispersed cognitive resources, such as inferences drawn by individuals from newly shared information." (Steel et al. 2021, 1293)

💡 Examples

  • "To illustrate, consider a group working to improve a website reader software package. Suppose this group includes, among others, a person with visual impairment, A, and an expert on technical aspects of website reader software, B. Suppose that A has encountered a difficulty when using the website reader of which others in the group are unaware. Then the following would be an example of IE [information elaboration]. First, A communicates the difficulty. Then other group members consider what consequences follow from it given their own knowledge; for instance, B considers how the software could be redesigned to avoid the difficulty. Next, group members communicate these inferences, and the group then discusses the suggested ideas, again with individuals considering and communicating implications given their own information and perspectives." (Steel et al. 2021, 1293)

🔗 Relations

📚 References

  • Homan, Astrid C., Daan van Knippenberg, Gerben A. Van Kleef, and Carsten K. W. De Dreu. 2007. “Bridging Faultlines by Valuing Diversity: Diversity Beliefs, Information Elaboration, and Performance in Diverse Work Groups.” Journal of Applied Psychology (US) 92 (5): 1189–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.5.1189.
  • Steel, Daniel, Sina Fazelpour, Bianca Crewe, and Kinley Gillette. 2021. “Information Elaboration and Epistemic Effects of Diversity.” Synthese 198 (2): 1287–307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02108-w.