Average and Majority Gates: Combining Information by Means of Bayesian Networks

In this paper we focus on the problem of belief aggregation, i.e. the task of forming a group consensus probability distribution by combining the beliefs of the individual members of the group. We propose the use of Bayesian Networks to model the interactions between the individuals of the group and introduce average and majority canonical models and their application to information aggregation. Due to efficiency restrictions imposed by the Group Recommending problem, where our research is framed, we have had to develop specific inference algorithms to compute group recommendations.