Social Decision Schemes

Social decision scheme (SDS) theory provides a mathematical framework for predicting group choices from group member preferences. A social decision scheme is a representation of a decision process that yields predicted group decisions given the initial preferences of members. As an example, consider a committee of employees who must choose among three health insurance plans being considered by their employer. The committee is composed of four employees, and each has a preferred plan. The four members may agree or disagree, but the goal is to endorse collectively one plan. Combining such individual preferences to obtain a collective decision encompasses both voting rules and a social influence process. Voting or decision rules are explicit or implicit rules for determining the group choice based on members' final ...