The Wall Street Journal:
A new research paper uses a barnyard analogy to explain why the star-studded Miami Heat now teeter on the brink of elimination: “Having too many dominant, high-egg-producing chickens in a single colony reduces overall egg production,” says a research article called “The Too-Much-Talent Effect,” to be published in the days ahead in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Actually, the 2014 Miami Heat aren’t a research subject for the paper. But by virtue of featuring at least three superstars — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — the Heat are the ideal test case for the question the paper poses: Can too much talent hurt a team? The authors — five academics from Europe and America, including two Columbia University professors — use a complex formula to conclude that the answer is yes for soccer and basketball, and no for baseball. Their argument is that an overabundance of stars diminishes teamwork and cooperation — elements crucial to success in soccer and football but not so much baseball.
Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal
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