What Do Agent-Based and Equation-Based Modelling Tell Us About Social Conventions: The Clash Between ABM and EBM in a Congestion Game Framework

In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in traffic-like interactions are presented and discussed. The objective of the paper is twofold: i) investigating the role of social conventions in coordination problem situations, and more specifically in congestion games; ii) comparing simulation-based and analytical results to figure out what these methodologies can tell us on the subject matter. Our main issue is that Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) and the Equation-Based Modelling (EBM) are not alternative, but in some circumstances complementary, and suggest some features distinguishing these two ways of modeling that go beyond the practical considerations provided by Parunak H.V.D., Robert Savit and Rick L. Riolo. Our model is based on the interaction of strategies of heterogeneous agents who have to cross a junction. In each junction there are only four inputs, each of which is passable only in the direction of the intersection and can be occupied only by an agent one at a time. The results generated by ABM simulations provide structured data for developing the analytical model through which generalizing the simulation results and make predictions. ABM simulations are artifacts that generate empirical data on the basis of the variables, properties, local rules and critical factors the modeler decides to implement into the model; in this way simulations allow generating controlled data, useful to test the theory and reduce the complexity, while EBM allows to close them, making thus possible to falsify them.Agent-Based Modelling, Equation-Based Modelling, Congestion Game, Model of Social Phenomena

Agenti (autonomi) normativi in società artificiali: uno studio simulativo sull'emergenza di artefatti sociali

Lo studio degli artefatti sociali, in particolare delle norme sociali, ha suscitato e suscita l'interesse di numerose e diverse comunità scientifiche. Tradizionalmente, filosofi, sociologi, giuristi e psicologi si sono interessati allo studio dell'origine delle norme e ai meccanismi socio-psicologici coinvolti nella adozione o trasgressione delle stesse; tuttavia, nell'ultimo ventennio questo interesse si è notevolmente allargato, influenzando la ricerca di settori scientifici più “duri” quali l'intelligenza artificiale, lo studio dei sistemi multi-agente, la teoria dei giochi e la robotica. Ognuno di questi ambiti disciplinari ha applicato il proprio approccio allo studio delle norme tentando di gettare luce sui meccanismi che sottendono: i) al comportamento coordinato che può emergere dall'adozione collettiva di una norma (o convenzione), ii) al processamento delle rappresentazioni mentali relative a regole sociali (quali le credenze normative), iii) all'influenza che il possesso o meno di norme può avere sul comportamento degli individui. Ciascuno di questi ambiti ha iniziato più o meno recentemente ad occuparsi dello studio delle norme; di conseguenza, alcuni di essi si trovano in una fase più matura, altri sono ancora in una fase iniziale (come senza dubbio la robotica, che da questo punto di vista rappresenta l'ultima arrivata). In questo lavoro, cercherò di mostrare come possa essere utile affrontare lo studio delle norme (di come esse si affermano socialmente, di come esse si insediano nella mente degli agenti, di come esse incidono sui comportamenti), utilizzando un approccio che per certi versi potremmo definire ibrido. Cercherò di conciliare due tradizioni contrapposte, provando a trarre il meglio da entrambe: la tradizione dell'approccio legato alla game theory, da un lato, e quello legato ai sistemi multi-agente, dall'altro.The study of social artefacts, including social norms, has aroused and attracted the attention of many different scientific communities. Traditionally, philosophers, sociologists, lawyers and psychologists are interested in studying the origin of norms and socio-psychological mechanisms involved in adoption or transgression of norms, but the last two decades this interest has expanded considerably, influencing research in scientific fields more "hard" as artificial intelligence, the study of multi-agent systems, game theory and robotics. Each of these disciplines have applied their approach to the study of norms attempting to clarify mechanisms underlying: i) coordinated behavior emerging from collective adoption of norm (or convention), ii) processing of mental representations relating to social rules (such as normative beliefs), iii) influence which the possession of norms may have on the individual behavior. Each of these fields began to study social norms more or less recently; some of them are in a more mature phase, others are still at an early stage (as robotics, the more young from this point of view). In this thesis, I will try to show how it can help tackle the study of norms (as they socially establish, how they install themselves in the minds of agents, how they affect behaviors), using an approach that in some ways we could define hybrid. I will try to reconcile two opposing traditions, trying to benefit from the best of both worlds: the traditional approach linked to game theory, on the one hand, and those related to multi-agent systems, on the other

Agenti (autonomi) normativi in società artificiali: uno studio simulativo sull'emergenza di artefatti sociali

Lo studio degli artefatti sociali, in particolare delle norme sociali, ha suscitato e suscita l'interesse di numerose e diverse comunità scientifiche. Tradizionalmente, filosofi, sociologi, giuristi e psicologi si sono interessati allo studio dell'origine delle norme e ai meccanismi socio-psicologici coinvolti nella adozione o trasgressione delle stesse; tuttavia, nell'ultimo ventennio questo interesse si è notevolmente allargato, influenzando la ricerca di settori scientifici più “duri” quali l'intelligenza artificiale, lo studio dei sistemi multi-agente, la teoria dei giochi e la robotica. Ognuno di questi ambiti disciplinari ha applicato il proprio approccio allo studio delle norme tentando di gettare luce sui meccanismi che sottendono: i) al comportamento coordinato che può emergere dall'adozione collettiva di una norma (o convenzione), ii) al processamento delle rappresentazioni mentali relative a regole sociali (quali le credenze normative), iii) all'influenza che il possesso o meno di norme può avere sul comportamento degli individui. Ciascuno di questi ambiti ha iniziato più o meno recentemente ad occuparsi dello studio delle norme; di conseguenza, alcuni di essi si trovano in una fase più matura, altri sono ancora in una fase iniziale (come senza dubbio la robotica, che da questo punto di vista rappresenta l'ultima arrivata). In questo lavoro, cercherò di mostrare come possa essere utile affrontare lo studio delle norme (di come esse si affermano socialmente, di come esse si insediano nella mente degli agenti, di come esse incidono sui comportamenti), utilizzando un approccio che per certi versi potremmo definire ibrido. Cercherò di conciliare due tradizioni contrapposte, provando a trarre il meglio da entrambe: la tradizione dell'approccio legato alla game theory, da un lato, e quello legato ai sistemi multi-agente, dall'altro.The study of social artefacts, including social norms, has aroused and attracted the attention of many different scientific communities. Traditionally, philosophers, sociologists, lawyers and psychologists are interested in studying the origin of norms and socio-psychological mechanisms involved in adoption or transgression of norms, but the last two decades this interest has expanded considerably, influencing research in scientific fields more "hard" as artificial intelligence, the study of multi-agent systems, game theory and robotics. Each of these disciplines have applied their approach to the study of norms attempting to clarify mechanisms underlying: i) coordinated behavior emerging from collective adoption of norm (or convention), ii) processing of mental representations relating to social rules (such as normative beliefs), iii) influence which the possession of norms may have on the individual behavior. Each of these fields began to study social norms more or less recently; some of them are in a more mature phase, others are still at an early stage (as robotics, the more young from this point of view). In this thesis, I will try to show how it can help tackle the study of norms (as they socially establish, how they install themselves in the minds of agents, how they affect behaviors), using an approach that in some ways we could define hybrid. I will try to reconcile two opposing traditions, trying to benefit from the best of both worlds: the traditional approach linked to game theory, on the one hand, and those related to multi-agent systems, on the other

Minding Norms : Mechanisms and dynamics of social order in agent societies

The book presents theoretical, methodological, and technical advances in the study of norms in societies of autonomous intelligent agents, based on a collaboration among social, computational, and cognitive scientists. By conceptualizing norms as social and cognitive phenomena undergoing a complex dynamics, and thanks to a computational, agent-based approach, contributors address three sets of questions: (a) What are norms, and how may we differentiate them from social conformism on one hand and acquiescence under menace on the other? (b) How do norms emerge and change? An innovative answer is found in the interplay between the mental and social dynamics of norms. (c) How can we characterize the agents from among which norms emerge, why and how people represent norms and abide with or violate them in a non-necessarily deliberative way? Throughout the book, the surprise is that conformity is only the tip of the normative iceberg. Norms emerge in society while “immerging” into the mind. Their mental dynamics, occurring beneath the line of observation, allows all the sets of questions to be answered: a special agent architecture is needed for norm immergence, which in turn allows us to account for how norm-based behavior emerges as a special form of social regularity. After a review of different approaches, the volume presents a dynamic model of norms, the normative agent architecture, a simulation platform, and the artificial experiments testing the view of norms and the architecture proposed against a number of more or less realistic social scenarios.</p

Correlated disasters and need-based transfers: The limits of risk pooling systems in simulated ecologies

ABSTRACTThroughout their evolutionary history, humans have faced risks including drought, disease, natural disasters and other unexpected negative events. To deal with these risks, humans use a variety of risk management strategies, some of which involve relying on others in times of need in order to pool risk. However, the effectiveness of risk pooling strategies can be limited when there is high synchronicity of need. Here we investigate the limits of two resource transfer systems for pooling risk (need-based transfers, NBT, and debt-based transfers, DBT) in simulated ecologies with different degrees of correlated disasters using an agent-based model of the need-based transfer system of the Maasai. Overall, we find that survival is higher when shocks are less correlated among partners, when groups are larger, and when network structure is characterized by preferential attachment networks, which have a more modular structure than regular or small world networks. We also find that NBT strategies consistently outperform DBT strategies across a wide variety of parameter values and that the advantage of NBT over DBT is greatest when shocks are less correlated and group size is small. Our results also suggest that systems of sharing that are based on recipient need are less vulnerable than systems that are based on debt and credit, especially in small world and regular networks.</jats:p

An agent-based model of the female rivalry hypothesis for concealed ovulation in humans

After half a century of debate and few empirical tests, there remains no consensus concerning why ovulation in human females is considered concealed. The predominant male investment hypothesis states that females were better able to obtain material investment from male partners across those females’ ovulatory cycles by concealing ovulation. We build on recent work on female competition to propose and investigate an alternative—the female rivalry hypothesis—that concealed ovulation benefited females by allowing them to avoid aggression from other females. Using an agent-based model of mating behaviour and paternal investment in a human ancestral environment, we did not find strong support for the male investment hypothesis, but found support for the female rivalry hypothesis. Our results suggest that concealed ovulation may have benefitted females in navigating their intrasexual social relationships. More generally, this work implies that explicitly considering female–female interactions may inspire additional insights into female behaviour and physiology

What Do Agent-Based and Equation-Based Modelling Tell Us About Social Conventions : The Clash Between ABM and EBM in a Congestion Game Framework

In this work simulation-based and analytical results on the emergence steady states in traffic-like interactions are presented and discussed. The objective of the paper is twofold: i) investigating the role of social conventions in coordination problem situations, and more specifically in congestion games; ii) comparing simulation-based and analytical results to figure out what these methodologies can tell us on the subject matter. Our main issue is that Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) and the Equation-Based Modelling (EBM) are not alternative, but in some circumstances complementary, and suggest some features distinguishing these two ways of modeling that go beyond the practical considerations provided by Parunak H.V.D., Robert Savit and Rick L. Riolo. Our model is based on the interaction of strategies of heterogeneous agents who have to cross a junction. In each junction there are only four inputs, each of which is passable only in the direction of the intersection and can be occupied only by an agent one at a time. The results generated by ABM simulations provide structured data for developing the analytical model through which generalizing the simulation results and make predictions. ABM simulations are artifacts that generate empirical data on the basis of the variables, properties, local rules and critical factors the modeler decides to implement into the model; in this way simulations allow generating controlled data, useful to test the theory and reduce the complexity, while EBM allows to close them, making thus possible to falsify them

An agent-based model of the female rivalry hypothesis for concealed ovulation in humans

After half a century of debate and few empirical tests, there remains no consensus concerning why ovulation in human females is considered concealed. The predominant male investment hypothesis states that females were better able to obtain material investment from male partners across those females’ ovulatory cycles by concealing ovulation. We build on recent work on female competition to propose and investigate an alternative—the female rivalry hypothesis—that concealed ovulation benefited females by allowing them to avoid aggression from other females. Using an agent-based model of mating behaviour and paternal investment in a human ancestral environment, we did not find strong support for the male investment hypothesis, but found support for the female rivalry hypothesis. Our results suggest that concealed ovulation may have benefitted females in navigating their intrasexual social relationships. More generally, this work implies that explicitly considering female–female interactions may inspire additional insights into female behaviour and physiology

The cultural evolution and ecology of institutions

Human societies are structured by what we refer to as ‘institutions’, which are socially created and culturally inherited proscriptions on behaviour that define roles and set expectations about social interactions. The study of institutions in several social science fields has provided many important insights that have not been fully appreciated in the evolutionary human sciences. However, such research has often lacked a shared understanding of general processes of change that shape institutional diversity across space and time. We argue that evolutionary theory can provide a useful framework for synthesizing information from different disciplines to address issues such as how and why institutions change over time, how institutional rules co-evolve with other culturally inherited traits, and the role that ecological factors might play in shaping institutional diversity. We argue that we can gain important insights by applying cultural evolutionary thinking to the study of institutions, but that we also need to expand and adapt our approaches to better handle the ways that institutions work, and how they might change over time. In this paper, we illustrate our approach by describing macro-scale empirical comparative analyses that demonstrate how evolutionary theory can be used to generate and test hypotheses about the processes that have shaped some of the major patterns we see in institutional diversity over time and across the world today. We then go on to discuss how we might usefully develop micro-scale models of institutional change by adapting concepts from game theory and agent-based modelling. We end by considering current challenges and areas for future research, and the potential implications for other areas of study and real-world applications.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution’.</jats:p