Title
Status maximization as a source of fairness in a networked dictator game
Abstract
Human behavioural patterns exhibit selfish or competitive, as well as selfless or altruistic tendencies, both of which have demonstrable effects on human social and economic activity. In behavioural economics, such effects have traditionally been illustrated experimentally via simple games such as the dictator and the ultimatum games. Experiments with these games suggest that, beyond rational economic thinking, human decision-making processes are influenced by social preferences, such as an inclination to fairness. In this study, we suggest that the apparent gap between competitive and altruistic human tendencies can be bridged by assuming that people are primarily maximizing their status, i.e., a utility function different from simple profit maximization. To this end, we analyse a simple agent-based model, where individuals play the repeated dictator game in a social network they can modify. As model parameters, we consider the living costs and the rate at which agents forget infractions by others. We find that individual strategies used in the game vary greatly, from selfish to selfless, and that both of the above parameters determine when individuals form complex and cohesive social networks.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1093/comnet/cny022
JOURNAL OF COMPLEX NETWORKS
Keywords
Field
DocType
dictator game,agent-based social simulation,superiority maximization
Social preferences,Social network,Altruism,Agent-based social simulation,Microeconomics,Ultimatum game,Artificial intelligence,Dictator game,Machine learning,Maximization,Mathematics,Dictator
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
7
2
2051-1310
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
2
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Jan E. Snellman110.82
Gerardo Iñiguez2707.33
János Kertész335723.70
Rafael A Barrio471.83
kimmo kaski579366.89