Five Insect Lessons for Better Decisions

In as much as humans may pride themselves on superior intelligence, research into insect behaviour suggests that some of the smallest creatures can offer valuable lessons on how to make better decisions. Scientists have found that ants, honeybees, locusts, cockroaches and fruit flies use remarkably effective strategies to solve problems, resolve disagreements, assess risks and make collective choices. Their behaviour has even inspired algorithms used in areas such as transport, telecommunications, scheduling and logistics.

Ant colonies demonstrate how effective decisions can emerge without a central authority or an external force directing every individual. When searching for food, ants initially explore several possible routes. As they travel, they leave pheromone trails that guide other ants towards promising locations. Shorter and more efficient routes are reinforced more quickly because ants using them return sooner and deposit more pheromones. Meanwhile, less efficient routes gradually lose their chemical signals. Eventually, the colony converges on the most efficient path, even though no single ant has a complete understanding of the entire problem.

The lesson for humans is clear: explore multiple options before committing, then allow evidence and results to determine which option deserves greater attention. The principle, known as ant colony optimization, has subsequently been adapted into computer algorithms for solving complex problems involving routing, transportation, communication networks and scheduling.

Honeybees offer another model for collective decision-making. When a colony needs to find a new nesting site, scout bees investigate different locations before returning to communicate their findings through the famous waggle dance. The dance conveys information about the quality and location of a potential site. More promising locations receive stronger and longer demonstrations. Other bees then investigate the proposed sites independently and return to either support existing recommendations or introduce alternatives. As evidence accumulates, the colony eventually reaches a quorum and commits to a location. The approach highlights the importance of gathering independent information, testing claims and allowing evidence to build consensus rather than allowing one individual to dominate a decision.

Locusts provide an unexpected lesson about disagreement. In experiments involving young locusts that move by marching rather than flying, groups have been observed to stall and change direction collectively. Researchers found that moments when some locusts become neutral—temporarily stopping rather than actively supporting either direction—can help the group shift from one collective choice to another. A similar experiment involving humans found that allowing participants to abstain from choosing between two options could help groups reach consensus more quickly and cleanly. The finding suggests that not taking a position immediately is not necessarily a weakness. In highly divided groups, a pause can create room for people to reconsider their assumptions, absorb new information and become receptive to alternative possibilities. Sometimes, changing a decision requires fewer people actively defending the existing position.

Cockroaches may have an unpleasant reputation, but studies of their behaviour reveal an important lesson about diversity within groups. Individual cockroaches differ in personality. Some are bold and exploratory, while others are more cautious and reluctant to move. Computer simulations examining how cockroaches collectively choose shelters found that groups with greater variation in behaviour could reach decisions faster than groups in which every individual behaved identically. However, too much uniformity at either extreme created problems. Groups dominated by highly active individuals could struggle to settle on a suitable shelter, while groups dominated by excessively cautious individuals could settle quickly but potentially choose a poor option.

The broader lesson is that effective collective intelligence depends on a balance between cooperation and behavioural diversity. For human organisations, teams and communities, this suggests that disagreement and differences in personality are not automatically obstacles. Properly managed, they can expose groups to more ideas, encourage interaction and improve the quality of decisions.

Fruit flies provide perhaps the most striking lesson about self-awareness. Research indicates that the insects can integrate information from their environment with their internal state when making choices. When presented with two similar smells, for instance, fruit flies take longer to decide, suggesting that they are weighing competing information. They can also make choices based on trade-offs. A fly may tolerate an unpleasant taste when the food provides a nutritional benefit, demonstrating an ability to assess the overall value of an option rather than responding only to one attractive or unpleasant feature. Their decisions can also change depending on their physical and emotional state. Hunger and stress, for example, can influence how willing they are to take risks.

For humans, the implication is significant: a decision that appears rational may be affected by hunger, stress, fear, previous experiences or other internal conditions. Recognizing those influences can help people determine when to trust their instincts and when to pause and reassess.

Taken together, the behaviour of these insects offers five practical principles for better decision-making. Explore before committing, as ants do. Gather independent evidence and build consensus, as honeybees do. Allow room for neutrality and reconsideration, as locusts demonstrate. Value behavioural diversity, as revealed by the behavior of cockroaches. Above all, remain aware of how internal conditions influence judgment, based on the illustration of fruit flies.

The larger lesson is that effective decision-making does not always require a single brilliant individual who knows the answer from the beginning. Sometimes, better choices emerge when individuals explore different possibilities, share information, tolerate disagreement, pause when necessary and allow evidence to determine the outcome. For creatures with brains vastly smaller than the human brain, insects offer a surprisingly sophisticated reminder: good decisions are often less about knowing everything and more about creating systems that allow better information, diverse perspectives and careful reassessment to prevail.

By: Joyce Owusu