Learning by Observing, Not by Doing

In this article, an interdisciplinary research team assessed the relative importance of social learning (i.e., observation) and asocial learning (i.e., trial and error) by creating a computer-based tournament with a monetary prize. Entrants formulated a strategy aimed at obtaining the highest payoff. Across 10,000 simulation rounds with variable payoffs, three decision alternatives remained available: teams could “innovate,” choosing 1 of 100 possible behaviors and learning its outcome; they could “exploit,” selecting a now-known behavior and collecting its payoff; or they could “observe,” watching the “exploit” behavior of another team and learning its outcome.

Results indicated that top teams relied more on observation than innovation. The…