Shared Knowledge in Collaborative Problem Solving: Acquisition and Effects

Whenever heterogeneous experts work together, shared knowledge comes into play. In recent years, two important research questions have emerged that we will address in the present paper. First, we analyzed if collaborative problem solving leads to the construction of shared knowledge. The second goal of this study was to demonstrate the assumed positive effect of shared knowledge on collaborative problem solving. Following Newell and Simon's (1972) classic view of problem solving, we distinguish shared knowledge about the initial situation, the goals, and the operators. The kind and amount of prior shared knowledge was varied as an independent variable in four experimental conditions. We showed that participants acquired shared knowledge during the cooperation and that most of this information was correct. Further results indicate that if collaborating partners have knowledge in common, their overall problem solutions are better than if they lack any kind of shared information. However, this effect seems to be mostly due to shared knowledge about initial situation and goals, as this leads to better solutions than shared knowledge about operators.