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How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds

Biological competition is widely believed to result in the evolution of selfish preferences. The related concept of the ‘homo economicus’ is at the core of mainstream economics. However, there is also experimental and empirical evidence for other-regarding preferences. Here we present a theory that...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Grund, Thomas, Waloszek, Christian, Helbing, Dirk
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3601368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23508001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01480
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author Grund, Thomas
Waloszek, Christian
Helbing, Dirk
author_facet Grund, Thomas
Waloszek, Christian
Helbing, Dirk
author_sort Grund, Thomas
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description Biological competition is widely believed to result in the evolution of selfish preferences. The related concept of the ‘homo economicus’ is at the core of mainstream economics. However, there is also experimental and empirical evidence for other-regarding preferences. Here we present a theory that explains both, self-regarding and other-regarding preferences. Assuming conditions promoting non-cooperative behaviour, we demonstrate that intergenerational migration determines whether evolutionary competition results in a ‘homo economicus’ (showing self-regarding preferences) or a ‘homo socialis’ (having other-regarding preferences). Our model assumes spatially interacting agents playing prisoner's dilemmas, who inherit a trait determining ‘friendliness’, but mutations tend to undermine it. Reproduction is ruled by fitness-based selection without a cultural modification of reproduction rates. Our model calls for a complementary economic theory for ‘networked minds’ (the ‘homo socialis’) and lays the foundations for an evolutionarily grounded theory of other-regarding agents, explaining individually different utility functions as well as conditional cooperation.
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spelling pubmed-36013682013-03-19 How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds Grund, Thomas Waloszek, Christian Helbing, Dirk Sci Rep Article Biological competition is widely believed to result in the evolution of selfish preferences. The related concept of the ‘homo economicus’ is at the core of mainstream economics. However, there is also experimental and empirical evidence for other-regarding preferences. Here we present a theory that explains both, self-regarding and other-regarding preferences. Assuming conditions promoting non-cooperative behaviour, we demonstrate that intergenerational migration determines whether evolutionary competition results in a ‘homo economicus’ (showing self-regarding preferences) or a ‘homo socialis’ (having other-regarding preferences). Our model assumes spatially interacting agents playing prisoner's dilemmas, who inherit a trait determining ‘friendliness’, but mutations tend to undermine it. Reproduction is ruled by fitness-based selection without a cultural modification of reproduction rates. Our model calls for a complementary economic theory for ‘networked minds’ (the ‘homo socialis’) and lays the foundations for an evolutionarily grounded theory of other-regarding agents, explaining individually different utility functions as well as conditional cooperation. Nature Publishing Group 2013-03-19 /pmc/articles/PMC3601368/ /pubmed/23508001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01480 Text en Copyright © 2013, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
spellingShingle Article
Grund, Thomas
Waloszek, Christian
Helbing, Dirk
How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title_full How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title_fullStr How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title_full_unstemmed How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title_short How Natural Selection Can Create Both Self- and Other-Regarding Preferences, and Networked Minds
title_sort how natural selection can create both self- and other-regarding preferences, and networked minds
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3601368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23508001
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep01480
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