Group Information Sampling Theory

The group information sampling theory uses information sampling to explain group polarization in group decision-making. The theory was proposed by American psychologists Garold Stasser and William Titus in 1985. According to the theory, the pre-discussion distribution of information over group members has a significant influence on the group discussion and its result and gives rise to the following types of bias: (1) informational bias, which occurs when individual group members are given partial sets of information that do not reflect the integrity and balance of available supporting arguments for the various decision alternatives; (2) preferential bias, which refers to individual members’ preferring alternatives at the onset of discussion; and (3) discussion bias caused by biases in information and preference. The content of discussion tends to reflect but not to correct biases introduced by the pre-discussion distribution of information. The theory postulates that there are two...