Influential individuals can promote prosocial practices in heterogeneous societies: a mathematical and agent-based model.

Publication Year
2024

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

In this paper, we examine how different governance types impact prosocial behaviors in a heterogenous society. We construct a general theoretical framework to examine a game-theoretic model to assess the ease of achieving a cooperative outcome. We then build a dynamic agent-based model to examine three distinct governance types in a heterogenous population: monitoring one's neighbors, despotic leadership, and influencing one's neighbors to adapt strategies that lead to better fitness. In our research, we find that while despotic leadership may lead towards high prosociality and high returns it does not exceed the effects of a local individual who can exert positive influence in the community. This may suggest that greater individual gains can be had by cooperating and that global hierarchical leadership may not be essential as long as influential individuals exert their influence for public good and not for public ill.

Journal
PNAS nexus
Volume
3
Issue
7
Pages
pgae224
Date Published
07/2024
ISSN Number
2752-6542
Alternate Journal
PNAS Nexus
PMCID
PMC11218171
PMID
38957450