Uncertainty and cooperation: Analytical results and a simulated agent society

Andras, Peter; Lazarus, John; Roberts, Gilbert; Lynden, Steven J

Abstract

Uncertainty is an important factor that influences social evolution in natural and artificial environments. Here we distinguish between three aspects of uncertainty. Environmental uncertainty is the variance of resources in the environment, perceived uncertainty is the variance of the resource distribution as perceived by the organism and effective uncertainty is the variance of resources effectively enjoyed by individuals. We show analytically that perceived uncertainty is larger than environmental uncertainty and that effective uncertainty is smaller than perceived uncertainty, when cooperation is present. We use an agent society simulation in a two dimensional world for the generation of simulation data as one realisation of the analytical results. Together with our earlier theoretical work, results here show that cooperation can buffer the detrimental effects of uncertainty on the organism. The proposed conceptualisation of uncertainty can help in understanding its effects on social evolution and in designing artificial social environments.

Citation

Andras, P., Lazarus, J., Roberts, G., & Lynden, S. J. (2006). Uncertainty and cooperation: Analytical results and a simulated agent society. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 9(1),

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 3, 2005
• Publication Date: 2006-01
• Deposit Date: Nov 8, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
• Print ISSN: 1460-7425
• Publisher: SimSoc Consortium
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Keywords: Agent-Based Modelling, Cooperation, Social Interaction Simulation, Uncertainty
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2809106
• Publisher URL: https://www.jasss.org/9/1/7.html