Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme

SOE 9: Social Systems, Opinion and Group Dynamics I

SOE 9.1: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 12:30–13:00, H44

Towards Simulating the Foundations of Society - A Multi-Agent Game-Theoretical Approach — •Dirk Helbing and Anders Johansson — ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland

To study social interactions, we propose an agent-based model with spatial interactions that can be analytically treated within a evolutionary game-theoretical framework. In order to understand social systems, it is essential to identify the circumstances under which individuals spontaneously start cooperating or developing shared behaviors, norms, and culture. In this connection, it is important to study the role of social mechanisms such as repeated interactions, group selection, network formation, costly punishment and group pressure, and how they allow to transform social dilemmas into interactive situations that promote the social system. Furthermore, it is interesting to study the role that social inequality, the protection of private property, or the on-going globalization play for the resulting "character" of a social system (cooperative or not). It is well-known that social cooperation can suddenly break down, giving rise to poverty or conflict. The decline of high cultures and the outbreak of civil wars or revolutions are well-known examples. The more surprising is it that one can develop an integrated, analytical game-theoretical description of phenomena as different as the outbreak and breakdown of cooperation, the formation of norms or subcultures, and the occurrence of social polarization.