Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T23:07:09.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Honesty and deception in populations of selfish, adaptive individuals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2016

David Catteeuw
Affiliation:
Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Bernard Manderick
Affiliation:
Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

Biologists have mostly studied under what circumstances honest signaling is stable. Stability, however, is not sufficient to explain the emergence of honest signaling. We study the evolution of honest signaling between selfish, adaptive individuals and observe that honest signaling can emerge through learning. More importantly, honest signaling may emerge in cases where it is not evolutionary stable. In such cases, honesty and dishonesty co-exist. Furthermore, honest signaling does not necessarily emerge in cases where it is evolutionary stable. We show that the latter is due to the existence of other, more important equilibria and that the importance of equilibria is related to Pareto-optimality.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Argiento, R., Pemantle, R., Skyrms, B. & Volkov, S. 2009. Learning to signal: analysis of a micro-level reinforcement model. Stochastic Processes and Their Applications 119(2), 373390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J. A. & Zollman, K. J. S. 2009. The role of forgetting in the evolution and learning of language. Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 21(4), 293309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catteeuw, D., De Beule, J. & Manderick, B. 2011. Roth-Erev learning in signaling and language games. In Proceedings of the 23rd Benelux Conference on Artificial Intelligence, De Causmaecker P., Maervoet J., Messelis T., Verbeeck K. & Vermeulen T. (eds). KaHo Sint-Lieven, Ghent, Belgium, 6574.Google Scholar
Catteeuw, D. & Manderick, B. 2013. The limits of reinforcement learning in Lewis signaling games. In Proceedings of the 13th Adaptive and Learning Agents Workshop, Devlin S., Hennes D. & Howly E. (eds). Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 2230.Google Scholar
Cho, I.-K. & Kreps, D. M. 1987. Signaling games and stable equilibria. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 102(2), 179221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, I.-K. & Sobel, J. 1990. Strategic stability and uniqueness in signaling games. Journal of Economic Theory 50(2), 381413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FitzGibbon, C. D. & Fanshawe, J. H. 1988. Stotting in Thomson’s gazelles: an honest signal of condition. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 23(2), 6974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fudenberg, D. & Levine, D. K. 1998. The Theory of Learning in Games. The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Grafen, A. 1990. Biological signals as handicaps. Journal of Theoretical Biology 144(4), 517546.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, W. D. 1964. The genetical evolution of social behaviour. Journal of Theoretical Biology 7(1), 152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofbauer, J. & Huttegger, S. M. 2008. Feasibility of communication in binary signaling games. Journal of theoretical biology 254(4), 843849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huttegger, S. M., Skyrms, B., Smead, R. S. & Zollman, K. J. S. 2009. Evolutionary dynamics of Lewis signaling games: signaling systems vs. partial pooling. Synthese 172(1), 177191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huttegger, S. M. & Zollman, K. J. S. 2010. Dynamic stability and basins of attraction in the Sir Philip Sidney game. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277(1689), 19151922.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lachmann, M. & Bergstrom, C. T. 1998. Signalling among relatives II. Beyond the tower of Babel. Theoretical Population Biology 54, 146160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, D. K. 1969. Convention: A Philosophical Study. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. 1991. Honest signalling: the Philip Sidney game. Animal Behaviour 42, 10341035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. & Harper, D. 2003. Animal Signals. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. & Price, G. R. 1973. The logic of animal conflict. Nature 246(5427), 1518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. G. 2001. Silver signals: twenty-five years of screening and signaling. Journal of Economic Literature 39(2), 432478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searcy, W. A. & Nowicki, S. 2005. The Evolution of Animal Communication: Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Skyrms, B. 2010. Signaling: Evolution, Learning and Information. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-019-958294-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobel, J. 2009. Signaling games. In Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, Meyers R. A. (ed.), 81258139. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-387-30440-3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, M. 1973. Job market signaling. Quarterly Journal of Economics 87(3), 355374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutton, R. S. & Barto, A. G. 1998. Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction. MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-19398-1.Google Scholar
Watkins, C. J. C. H. & Dayan, P. 1992. Q-learning. Machine Learning 8, 279292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahavi, A. 1975. Mate selection – a selection for a handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology 53, 205214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed