Hidden profiles

A hidden profile is a paradigm that occurs in the process of group decision making. It is found in a situation when part of some information is shared among group members (i.e. all members possess this information prior to discussion), whereas other pieces of information are unshared (i.e. information known to only one member prior to discussion). Furthermore, shared information and unshared information have different decisional implications, and the alternative implied by the unshared information is the correct one given all information available to the group. However, no group member can detect this best solution on the basis of her or his individual information prior to discussion; it can only be found by pooling the unshared information during group discussion. This topic is one of many topics studied in social psychology.

In 1981 two researchers, Garold Stasser and William Titus, set out to challenge strongly-held beliefs about group decision making. The researchers attempted to use a number of formal models to identify what would happen when people are not fully informed. One of these was the persuasive argument theory (PAT). The theory, in this case, would state that polarization of judgments is due to culturally pooled arguments. This will bolster popularly held beliefs and arguments, yet not take into account unshared information. The novelty of arguments, on the other hand, does create change, but PAT assumes they are consistent with the norm. Stasser and Titus posit that this is not always the case. Through providing selective, unique information, they felt they could separate informational influence and normative influence. Though they ultimately found opposing results, they had devised hidden profiles.

Hidden profiles occur when some information is shared among group members and other pieces of information remain unshared. This phenomenon has a tendency to co-occur and interact with the shared information bias to produce poor decisions. Though each person in a group will have unique knowledge, group members will have the propensity to discuss already shared information. The motivation to do so will be to reach a consensus. This, however, does not yield the optimal decision choice. Initial decision preferences differ from what is ideal, but integrating the unique knowledge of individual group members will allow the optimal decision to be realized.

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