Communication and Agenda Influence: The Chocolate Pizza Design

Abstract

The previous experimental research conducted by Levine and Plott leaves little doubt that the agenda used by voting committees to sequentially eliminate options can be a major parameter in determining the group's final choice. The range of circumstances for which this proposition is true has not yet been isolated. It is clearly true for a set of experimental circumstances within which communication and casual conversations among committee members is rather severally restricted. Applications of the theory to complicated field situations suggest that the proposition is true for very rick environments but such claims are not backed by replication. Furthermore, several theories and even related experimental results suggest that the influence of the agenda will decrease as communication among group members increases. In this paper, we introduce an experimental setting designed to facilitate group discussion and interaction. Experimental results conduced within this design and reported below support the earlier findings that the agenda is a predominant factor in determining the final outcome of group choice.