The coevolution of group size and leadership: An agent-based public goods model for prehispanic pueblo societies

Timothy A. Kohler; Denton Cockburn; Paul L. Hooper; R. Kyle Bocinsky; Ziad Kobti

doi:10.1142/S0219525911003256

The coevolution of group size and leadership: An agent-based public goods model for prehispanic pueblo societies

Timothy A. Kohler, Denton Cockburn, Paul L. Hooper, R. Kyle Bocinsky, Ziad Kobti

W. A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present an agent-based model for voluntaristic processes allowing the emergence of leadership in small-scale societies, parameterized to apply to Pueblo societies of the northern US Southwest between AD 600 and 1300. We embed an evolutionary public-goods game in a spatial simulation of household activities in which agents, representing households, decide where to farm, hunt, and locate their residences. Leaders, through their work in monitoring group members and punishing defectors, can increase the likelihood that group members will cooperate to achieve a favorable outcome in the public-goods game. We show that under certain conditions households prefer to work in a group with a leader who receives a share of the group's productivity, rather than to work in a group with no leader. Simulation produces outcomes that match reasonably well those known for a portion of Southwest Colorado between AD 600 and 900. We suggest that for later periods a model incorporating coercion, or inter-group competition, or both, and one in which tiered hierarchies of leadership can emerge, would increase the goodness-of-fit.

Original language	English
Article number	1150007
Journal	Advances in Complex Systems
Volume	15
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219525911003256
State	Published - Mar 2012

Funding

of many other past and current members of the VEP research team, especially Mark Varien and Scott Ortman of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Thanks to Herb Maschner, Scott Ortman, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier version. Hillard Kaplan and Jim Boone also provided helpful input. Stefani Crabtree produced Fig. 1, and Ruth Van Dyke provided a crucial reference. Our research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DEB-0816400.

Funder number
0816400, DEB-0816400, 1300426

Keywords

Agent-based simulation
Emergence of leadership
Neolithic societies
Public-goods games
Pueblo society
Southwestern Colorado
Southwestern archaeology
Spatial simulation

Access to Document

10.1142/S0219525911003256

Cite this

@article{28949c05ce3445bfb8e0b54f8fd81b1c,

title = "The coevolution of group size and leadership: An agent-based public goods model for prehispanic pueblo societies",

abstract = "We present an agent-based model for voluntaristic processes allowing the emergence of leadership in small-scale societies, parameterized to apply to Pueblo societies of the northern US Southwest between AD 600 and 1300. We embed an evolutionary public-goods game in a spatial simulation of household activities in which agents, representing households, decide where to farm, hunt, and locate their residences. Leaders, through their work in monitoring group members and punishing defectors, can increase the likelihood that group members will cooperate to achieve a favorable outcome in the public-goods game. We show that under certain conditions households prefer to work in a group with a leader who receives a share of the group's productivity, rather than to work in a group with no leader. Simulation produces outcomes that match reasonably well those known for a portion of Southwest Colorado between AD 600 and 900. We suggest that for later periods a model incorporating coercion, or inter-group competition, or both, and one in which tiered hierarchies of leadership can emerge, would increase the goodness-of-fit.",

keywords = "Agent-based simulation, Emergence of leadership, Neolithic societies, Public-goods games, Pueblo society, Southwestern Colorado, Southwestern archaeology, Spatial simulation",

author = "Kohler, \{Timothy A.\} and Denton Cockburn and Hooper, \{Paul L.\} and Bocinsky, \{R. Kyle\} and Ziad Kobti",

note = "Funding Information: of many other past and current members of the VEP research team, especially Mark Varien and Scott Ortman of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Thanks to Herb Maschner, Scott Ortman, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier version. Hillard Kaplan and Jim Boone also provided helpful input. Stefani Crabtree produced Fig. 1, and Ruth Van Dyke provided a crucial reference. Our research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DEB-0816400.",

year = "2012",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1142/S0219525911003256",

language = "English",

volume = "15",

journal = "Advances in Complex Systems",

issn = "0219-5259",

publisher = "World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd",

number = "1-2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The coevolution of group size and leadership

T2 - An agent-based public goods model for prehispanic pueblo societies

AU - Kohler, Timothy A.

AU - Cockburn, Denton

AU - Hooper, Paul L.

AU - Bocinsky, R. Kyle

AU - Kobti, Ziad

N1 - Funding Information: of many other past and current members of the VEP research team, especially Mark Varien and Scott Ortman of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Thanks to Herb Maschner, Scott Ortman, and an anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier version. Hillard Kaplan and Jim Boone also provided helpful input. Stefani Crabtree produced Fig. 1, and Ruth Van Dyke provided a crucial reference. Our research is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DEB-0816400.

PY - 2012/3

Y1 - 2012/3

N2 - We present an agent-based model for voluntaristic processes allowing the emergence of leadership in small-scale societies, parameterized to apply to Pueblo societies of the northern US Southwest between AD 600 and 1300. We embed an evolutionary public-goods game in a spatial simulation of household activities in which agents, representing households, decide where to farm, hunt, and locate their residences. Leaders, through their work in monitoring group members and punishing defectors, can increase the likelihood that group members will cooperate to achieve a favorable outcome in the public-goods game. We show that under certain conditions households prefer to work in a group with a leader who receives a share of the group's productivity, rather than to work in a group with no leader. Simulation produces outcomes that match reasonably well those known for a portion of Southwest Colorado between AD 600 and 900. We suggest that for later periods a model incorporating coercion, or inter-group competition, or both, and one in which tiered hierarchies of leadership can emerge, would increase the goodness-of-fit.

AB - We present an agent-based model for voluntaristic processes allowing the emergence of leadership in small-scale societies, parameterized to apply to Pueblo societies of the northern US Southwest between AD 600 and 1300. We embed an evolutionary public-goods game in a spatial simulation of household activities in which agents, representing households, decide where to farm, hunt, and locate their residences. Leaders, through their work in monitoring group members and punishing defectors, can increase the likelihood that group members will cooperate to achieve a favorable outcome in the public-goods game. We show that under certain conditions households prefer to work in a group with a leader who receives a share of the group's productivity, rather than to work in a group with no leader. Simulation produces outcomes that match reasonably well those known for a portion of Southwest Colorado between AD 600 and 900. We suggest that for later periods a model incorporating coercion, or inter-group competition, or both, and one in which tiered hierarchies of leadership can emerge, would increase the goodness-of-fit.

KW - Agent-based simulation

KW - Emergence of leadership

KW - Neolithic societies

KW - Public-goods games

KW - Pueblo society

KW - Southwestern Colorado

KW - Southwestern archaeology

KW - Spatial simulation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84858164817

U2 - 10.1142/S0219525911003256

DO - 10.1142/S0219525911003256

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84858164817

SN - 0219-5259

VL - 15

JO - Advances in Complex Systems

JF - Advances in Complex Systems

IS - 1-2

M1 - 1150007

ER -

The coevolution of group size and leadership: An agent-based public goods model for prehispanic pueblo societies

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this