Biased information search in group decision making

Research has shown that people prefer supporting to conflicting information when making decisions. Whether this biased information search also occurs in group decision making was examined in three experiments. Experiment 1 in dicated that groups as well as individuals prefer supporting information an d that the strength of this bias depends on the distribution of the group m embers' initial decision preferences. The more group members had chosen the same alternative prior to the group discussion (group homogeneity), the mo re strongly the group preferred information supporting that alternative. Ex periment 2 replicated these results with managers. Experiment 3 showed that the differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous groups reflect group -level processes. Higher commitment and confidence in homogeneous groups me diated this effect. Functional and dysfunctional aspects of biased informat ion seeking in group decision making are discussed.