from the marriages-must-be-very-perceptive dept.
Disagreements help team perception, study finds:
Team disagreements might be the key to helping soldiers identify objects in battle, researchers say. While studies on combat identification typically focus on how technology can help identify enemy forces, researchers sought to understand how teams work together to identify armored vehicles—using only their training and each other.
"We wanted to know what factors would contribute the most to their success," said Dr. Anthony Baker, a scientist at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory, who executed the study while a doctoral student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "While previous lab studies of combat identification have looked at the performance of an individual, this is the first lab study to our knowledge that considers team combat identification, especially without any technological aids like an automated combat identification system. This was key for helping us understand the aspects of the team, and its members, that contribute the most to their ability to understand and identify what they are seeing."
The Human Factors journal published the research, "Team Combat Identification: Effects of Gender, Spatial Visualization, and Disagreement," in its February issue.
[...] Researchers found that teams that disagreed more performed better at combat identification, regardless of whether their disagreements actually resulted in more correct answers. The data suggested that disagreeing with a team member's first guess caused the team to verify why they identified a vehicle a certain way.
"In other words, when the team disagreed, they had to justify an answer by recounting the details of what they had seen," Baker said. "This process of recalling and discussing details caused teams to think more deeply about their original responses, compared to teams with fewer disagreements that may have simply trusted what the other teammate believed."
[...] This research reinforces that to understand how a team does its job, one must consider both individual differences such as spatial skills, and team processes such as communication, Baker said.
Journal Reference:
Anthony L. Baker, Joseph R. Keebler, Emily C. Anania, David Schuster, John P. Plummer. Team Combat Identification: Effects of Gender, Spatial Visualization, and Disagreement. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2020; 001872082090228 DOI: 10.1177/0018720820902286
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:14AM (2 children)
This works just as well when witnessing an accident, or disaster. Example? Witnessed an accident late one night, and recounted what I saw to the cop who responded to the call. He came back, and questioned me about who got out of which vehicle first. I had recounted that the male in the victim's car had been driving. The victim's account didn't jive with what I had thought I saw, and my conclusions. Being questioned, I realized that it was highly unlikely that the male was driving, because he was first out of the vehicle. He certainly didn't come out through the driver's side door, which was caved in, with the dumbass's car resting against it.
That little detail was important, because the man's driver's license was suspended. If he had been driving, the cop was going to take him to jail.
Being questioned, and justifying your answers, pays off in all sorts of situations. It also saves you from looking like a total idiot later, when a judge or some such is listening to your story.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 08 2020, @07:13AM
That is what we call a "Chinese Fire Drill."
When you have a bunch of guilty people in a car that just got pulled over, then everybody switches places and then bolts out the opposite doors and runs around like a three-squeek mouse down a Chink's esophagus.
Chinks. Slants. Zipperheads.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Kell on Wednesday April 08 2020, @07:25AM
AGreed. I call it an "acid test" - when made to justify oneself, you are forced to put reasoning down in a formalised way rather than what just sounds good in your head. This gives clarity and provokes insight. (Also, why on earth would people mod you down for your post confounds me)
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:41AM (2 children)
Unless of course, those objections where aristarchus submisisons, which would be immediately deep -sixed up the ying-yang of the ballyhoo of the old janrinock, tip, tip, hooray! Oh the mendacity weighs upon us all.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by crafoo on Wednesday April 08 2020, @01:53PM (1 child)
I think I take your meaning - that difficult theories will be rejected whether they are true or not. However, I think the point of this story is that just the act of disagreeing promotes discussion and at least a minimal defense of the first "guess", which statistically improves target identification.
(Score: 2) by pipedwho on Wednesday April 08 2020, @09:16PM
This is probably true for teams that aren’t already critically thinking with an open mind and sanity checking any conclusions.
OTOH, neither argument nor verifying analysis wouldn’t happen in lazy teams where one guy does all the thinking and everyone else just blows into their decision without any thought or input.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @05:02AM (7 children)
Teams that disagree are... not led by arrogant narcissistic thin-skinned vindictive sons-of-bitches. Ever see what happens when someone disagrees with a dictator? No, because North Korea is perfect and everyone agrees and lives in perfect harmony.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @06:21AM
Or, we end up all having sex with a horse, that Runaway has all tied up for us? I am failing to see the downside. But I am from Arkansas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @02:11PM (5 children)
More generally this is what happens when people are promoted for compliance or ideology rather than merit. Merit will always skew towards the disagreeable because it's this very quality that propels them. Promote for "diversity" and agreeableness and you promote weak, easily manipulated people; the dictatorial psychopaths dream. There's nothing "wacky" about your theory at all but as described by Yuri Bezmenov, narcissists are targeted for recruitment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @03:09PM (1 child)
The problem with your link is that someone has cleverly added "(leftists are IDIOTS)" at the top. The video itself is interesting - but this guy is like douchbags in upper management everywhere. Name drop, credential drop, clever arguments involving large-scale conspircaies, blamey tone of voice - basically every rhetorical trick he knows. That's your guy you open up and trust?!?
You know that Russian trolls pump both sides of divisive issues? It's not "leftist IDIOTS" being manipulated - it's you too. Welcome to the club! And - shocker - we do this shit all the time. Watch TV for 15 minutes, count the adverts. Herd immunity in progress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:36PM
The problem with your objection is that is the subject of discussion in the video happens to be communist propaganda, it could as easily be "fascist propaganda" or "religious propaganda". Nothing you have said disproves the contention made both in the video and in the video description that useful idiots who repeat dogma as ideology are merely tools for those manipulating them. Clever arguments involving large scale conspiracies like the CIA installing puppet dictators [state.gov] shouldn't be believed according to you, even when we have the documentation and supporting evidence? There is no trust or "belief" required when assessing the facts and this is why your attempt at minimization [wikipedia.org] fails.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @03:32PM (2 children)
Before you swoon and pass out, don't forget to take your Brain Force Plus supplements (only $29.95 [infowarsstore.com]). You know who the real geniuses are - the ones who can make a href work on this site, that's how you spot them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:39PM (1 child)
I doubt that substance is effective although it may serve as a depression offsetting placebo for someone such as yourself who is clearly lacking in the cognitive department.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 09 2020, @01:10AM
You sound like a leftist IDIOT.