The process of interacting and executing agent-based simulations of human phenomena is complex an... more The process of interacting and executing agent-based simulations of human phenomena is complex and difficult to follow for lay people. This is due to 1) limited access to computing power, 2) difficulty in writing analytics scripts and 3) the size and complexity of the simulation space. Consequently, agent-based simulations are normally used once to answer a limited set of questions instead of exploring all the potential paths that the model offers. Here, we describe an approach for developing user experiences that automate the analytic process and rely on interactive visualizations and life histories of societies and agents. This approach helps the user visualize simulation results, pinpoint consequences of different initial conditions on the societies' evolution and agents' behavior, and ultimately allow the user to build a narrative or storytelling to present complex information. We present a prototype application that we implemented in the R language.
Three mechanisms have been proposed to underlie reciprocation of social behaviors in gregarious a... more Three mechanisms have been proposed to underlie reciprocation of social behaviors in gregarious animals: "calculated reciprocity," "emotional bookkeeping," and "symmetry-based reciprocity." Among these explanations, emotional book-keeping has received the broadest support from experimental and observational studies. On the other hand, 3 individual-based models have shown that reciprocation may emerge via "symmetry-based reciprocity," "emotional bookkeeping," or a combination of both mechanisms. Here, we use these 3 models to assess their relative fit with empirical data on reciprocation and social network structure across different groups and species of macaques. We collected grooming data from 14 groups and 8 macaque species and simulated each group in each model. We analyzed and quantitatively compared social network metrics of the empirical and the models' grooming networks. The 3 models captured fairly well the features of observed networks, and fitted data from wild groups better than captive ones. The emotional bookkeeping model seemed on average to fit slightly better the social networks metrics observed in empirical data, but failed to reproduce some grooming patterns. The symmetry-based models, on the other hand, fitted better other network parameters (e.g., modularity). No model generally fitted the data better than the others, and the fit with some metrics (e.g., modularity, centralization index) was low even after optimization. Thus, our analyses indicate that in the models social interactions may be simpler than in reality and models may miss social processes (e.g., third-party awareness).
Since group-living animals are embedded in a network of social interactions, socioecological fact... more Since group-living animals are embedded in a network of social interactions, socioecological factors may not only affect individual behavioral strategies but also the patterning of group-level social interactions, i.e., the network structure. These co-variations between socioecological factors, individual behavior, and group-level structure are important to study since ecological factors may strongly influence animal health outcomes and reproductive success. Besides factors such as social information and/or infectious agents, with far-reaching individual fitness consequences, seem independent of individuals' own social interactions but directly affected by the topology of the social network. This paper reviews how socio-ecological pressures, i.e., causal factors (food distribution, predation, and infectious agent risk), via intermediary mechanisms (stress, information sharing, and mating system), may affect individual social behavior and consequently, social network topology. We also discuss how evolutionary driving forces, genetic (i.e., genes) and cultural (i.e., learned behavior) selection, may result in a specific composition of individuals' social strategies that produce network topologies that might be optimized to specific socio-ecological conditions. We conclude that studies focusing on whether and how well networks resist changing conditions might provide a better understanding of the rules underlying individual behavior, which in turn influences network topology-a process we have called network evolution. Evolutionary processes may favor a group phenotypic composition, thus a network topology. This has been referred to as a "collective social niche construction".
Group-living animals rely on efficient transmission of information for optimal exploitation of th... more Group-living animals rely on efficient transmission of information for optimal exploitation of their habitat. How efficient and resilient a network is depend on its structure, which is a consequence of the social interactions of the individuals that comprise the network. In macaques, network structure differs according to dominance style. Networks of intolerant species are more modular, more centralized, and less connected than those of tolerant ones. Given these structural differences, networks of intolerant species are potentially more vulnerable to fragmentation and decreased information transmission when central individuals disappear. Here we studied network resilience and efficiency in artificial societies of macaques. The networks were produced with an individual-based model that has been shown to reproduce the structural features of networks of tolerant and intolerant macaques. To study network resilience, we deleted either central individuals or individuals at random and studied the effects of these deletions on network cohesiveness and efficiency. The deletion of central individuals had more negative effects than random deletions from the networks of both tolerant and intolerant artificial societies. Central individuals thus appeared to aid in the maintenance of network cohesiveness and efficiency. Further, the networks of both intolerant and tolerant societies appeared to be robust to the loss of individuals, as network fragmentation was never observed. Our results suggest that despite differences in network structure, networks of tolerant and intolerant macaques may be equally resilient.
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2017
The individual-based model GrooFiWorld proposes a parsimonious theory explaining the complex beha... more The individual-based model GrooFiWorld proposes a parsimonious theory explaining the complex behaviour of macaque societies. It suggests that the socio-spatial structure of the group underlies the emergence of complex behaviour. A spatial structure with dominants at the center and subordinates at the periphery emerges due to aggression. This structure influences the distribution of social interactions: individuals interact more with close-by partners and thus several behavioural patterns emerge. In GrooFiWorld, however, individuals have no preferential interactions; whereas in primates, individuals prefer interactions with 'friends'. The distribution of interactions, then, may be influenced by 'friendships' rather than spatial structure. To study this, here, we omitted space from the model and investigated the e ects of 'friendships' on the emergence of social behaviour and network structure. Results show that 'friendships' promote cooperation but fail to produce other patterns characteristic of macaques. This highlights the importance that spatial structure may have in structuring macaque societies.
Individual-based computer models show that simple heuristic governing individuals' behavior may s... more Individual-based computer models show that simple heuristic governing individuals' behavior may suffice to generate complex patterns of social behavior at the group level such as those observed in animal societies. 'GrooFiWorld' is an example of such kind of computer models. In this model, selforganization and simple behavioral rules generate complex patterns of social behavior like those described in tolerant and intolerant societies of macaques. Social complexity results from the sociospatial structure of the group, the nature of which is, in turn, a side-effect of intensity of aggression. The model suggests that a similar mechanism may give rise to complex social structures in macaques. It is, however, unknown if the spatial structure of the model and that of macaques are indeed similar. Here we used social networks analysis as a proxy for spatial structure of the group. Our findings show that the social networks of the model share similar qualitative features with those of macaques. As group size increases, the density and the average individual eigenvector centrality decrease and the modularity and centralization of the network increase. In social networks emerging from simulations resembling intolerant societies the density is lower, the modularity and centralization are higher, and the individuals ranking higher in the dominance hierarchy are more central than in the social networks emerging from simulations resembling egalitarian societies. Given the qualitative similarity between the social networks of the model and that of empirical data, our results suggest that the spatial structure of macaques is similar to that of the model. It seems thus plausible that, as in the model, the spatial structure combined with simple behavioral rules plays a role in the emergence of complex social networks and complex social behavior in macaques.
GrooFiWorld is an individual-based, computational model of social interactions that can be used t... more GrooFiWorld is an individual-based, computational model of social interactions that can be used to examine factors underlying reciprocation and interchange of social behavior in primate societies. Individuals within GrooFiWorld are programed to maintain spatial proximity and thereby form a group. When an individual encounters another individual in its proximity, the individual attacks the other if the risk of losing is low. Otherwise, the individual considers grooming the other. Patterns of social behavior that emerge in the model resemble empirical data from primates. Triadic aggression emerges when an individual attacks one of the former combatants by chance immediately after an aggressive interaction, and reciprocation and interchange of grooming and support emerge even though individuals have no intention to help others or pay back services. The model generates predictions for patterns of contra-intervention that are counterintuitive within a framework of interchange of social s...
We describe an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the International Social Survey Pr... more We describe an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the International Social Survey Programme Religion Cumulation (1991-1998-2008) data set. The exploratory factor analysis was performed using data from the first two waves (1991 and 1998), and led to the identification of four factors which we labeled "Religious formation," "Supernatural beliefs," "Belief in God," and "Religious practice." The confirmatory factor analysis was run using data from 2008, and led to results consistent with the four-factor structure obtained in the previous step. We also run a set of structural equation models in an attempt to find whether this procedure could suggest causality links among the three factors related to the respondents' current religiosity, given the known causal precedence of "Religious formation." The two SEMs with best fit suggest that religious practice influences beliefs more than the latter influence practice, but no causal precedences can be inferred from this result.
The process of interacting and executing agent-based simulations of human phenomena is complex an... more The process of interacting and executing agent-based simulations of human phenomena is complex and difficult to follow for lay people. This is due to 1) limited access to computing power, 2) difficulty in writing analytics scripts and 3) the size and complexity of the simulation space. Consequently, agent-based simulations are normally used once to answer a limited set of questions instead of exploring all the potential paths that the model offers. Here, we describe an approach for developing user experiences that automate the analytic process and rely on interactive visualizations and life histories of societies and agents. This approach helps the user visualize simulation results, pinpoint consequences of different initial conditions on the societies' evolution and agents' behavior, and ultimately allow the user to build a narrative or story-telling to present complex information. We present a prototype application that we implemented in the R language.
We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries... more We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries with a Christian heritage, based on the 1998 and 2008 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion survey, using both exploratory and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors, common to Christian and religiously unaffiliated respondents, could be extracted from our initially selected items and suggested the testing of four different three-factor models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. For the model with the best fit and measurement invari-ance properties, we labeled the three resulting factors as "Beliefs in afterlife and miracles", "Belief and importance of God" and "Religious involvement." The first factor is measured by four items related to the Supernatural Beliefs Scale (SBS-6); the second by three items related to belief in God and God's perceived roles as a supernatural agent; and the third one by three items with the same structure found in previous cross-cultural analyses of religiosity using the European Values Survey (ESS) and also by belief in God. Unexpectedly, we found that one item, belief in God, cross-loaded on to the second and third factors. We discussed possible interpretations for this finding, together with the potential limitations of the ISSP Religion questionnaire for revealing the structure of religiosity. Our tests of measurement invari-ance across gender, age, educational degree and religious (un)affiliation led to acceptance of the hypotheses of metric-and scalar-invariance for these groupings (units of analysis). However, in the measurement invariance tests across the countries, the criteria for metric invariance were met for twenty-three countries only, and partial scalar invariance was accepted for fourteen countries only. The present work shows that the exploration of large multinational and cross-cultural datasets for studying the dimensionality and invariance of social constructs (in our case, religiosity) yields useful results for cross-cultural comparisons, but is also limited by the structure of these datasets and the way specific items are coded.
Since group-living animals are embedded in a network of social interactions, socioecological fact... more Since group-living animals are embedded in a network of social interactions, socioecological factors may not only affect individual behavioral strategies but also the patterning of group-level social interactions, i.e., the network structure. These co-variations between socioecological factors, individual behavior, and group-level structure are important to study since ecological factors may strongly influence animal health outcomes and reproductive success. Besides factors such as social information and/or infectious agents, with far-reaching individual fitness consequences, seem independent of individuals' own social interactions but directly affected by the topology of the social network. This paper reviews how socio-ecological pressures, i.e., causal factors (food distribution, predation, and infectious agent risk), via intermediary mechanisms (stress, information sharing, and mating system), may affect individual social behavior and consequently, social network topology. We also discuss how evolutionary driving forces, genetic (i.e., genes) and cultural (i.e., learned behavior) selection, may result in a specific composition of individuals' social strategies that produce network topologies that might be optimized to specific socio-ecological conditions. We conclude that studies focusing on whether and how well networks resist changing conditions might provide a better understanding of the rules underlying individual behavior, which in turn influences network topology-a process we have called network evolution. Evolutionary processes may favor a group phenotypic composition, thus a network topology. This has been referred to as a "collective social niche construction".
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Japan Monkey Centre... more Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Japan Monkey Centre and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com".
Three mechanisms have been proposed to underlie reciprocation of social behaviors in gregarious a... more Three mechanisms have been proposed to underlie reciprocation of social behaviors in gregarious animals: " calculated reciprocity, " " emotional bookkeeping, " and " symmetry-based reciprocity. " Among these explanations, emotional book-keeping has received the broadest support from experimental and observational studies. On the other hand, 3 individual-based models have shown that recipro-cation may emerge via " symmetry-based reciprocity, " " emotional bookkeeping, " or a combination of both mechanisms. Here, we use these 3 models to assess their relative fit with empirical data on reciprocation and social network structure across different groups and species of macaques. We collected grooming data from 14 groups and 8 macaque species and simulated each group in each model. We analyzed and quantitatively compared social network metrics of the empirical and the models' grooming networks. The 3 models captured fairly well the features of observed networks, and fitted data from wild groups better than captive ones. The emotional bookkeeping model seemed on average to fit slightly better the social networks metrics observed in empirical data, but failed to reproduce some grooming patterns. The symmetry-based models, on the other hand, fitted better other network parameters (e.g., mod-ularity). No model generally fitted the data better than the others, and the fit with some metrics (e.g., modularity, centralization index) was low even after optimization. Thus, our analyses indicate that in the models social interactions may be simpler than in reality and models may miss social processes (e.g., third-party awareness).
A B S T R A C T Individual-based computer models show that simple heuristic governing individuals... more A B S T R A C T Individual-based computer models show that simple heuristic governing individuals' behavior may suffice to generate complex patterns of social behavior at the group level such as those observed in animal societies. 'GrooFiWorld' is an example of such kind of computer models. In this model, self-organization and simple behavioral rules generate complex patterns of social behavior like those described in tolerant and intolerant societies of macaques. Social complexity results from the socio-spatial structure of the group, the nature of which is, in turn, a side-effect of intensity of aggression. The model suggests that a similar mechanism may give rise to complex social structures in macaques. It is, however, unknown if the spatial structure of the model and that of macaques are indeed similar. Here we used social networks analysis as a proxy for spatial structure of the group. Our findings show that the social networks of the model share similar qualitative features with those of macaques. As group size increases, the density and the average individual eigenvector centrality decrease and the modularity and centralization of the network increase. In social networks emerging from simulations resembling intolerant societies the density is lower, the modularity and centralization are higher, and the individuals ranking higher in the dominance hierarchy are more central than in the social networks emerging from simulations resembling egalitarian societies. Given the qualitative similarity between the social networks of the model and that of empirical data, our results suggest that the spatial structure of macaques is similar to that of the model. It seems thus plausible that, as in the model, the spatial structure combined with simple behavioral rules plays a role in the emergence of complex social networks and complex social behavior in macaques.
The individual-based model GrooFiWorld proposes a parsimonious theory explaining the complex beha... more The individual-based model GrooFiWorld proposes a parsimonious theory explaining the complex behaviour of macaque societies. It suggests that the socio-spatial structure of the group underlies the emergence of complex behaviour. A spatial structure with dominants at the center and subordinates at the periphery emerges due to aggression. This structure influences the distribution of social interactions: individuals interact more with close-by partners and thus several behavioural patterns emerge. In GrooFiWorld, however, individuals have no preferential interactions; whereas in primates, individuals prefer interactions with ’friends’. The distribution of interactions, then, may be influenced by ’friendships’ rather than spatial structure. To study this, here, we omitted space from the model and investigated the eects of ’friendships’ on the emergence of social behaviour and network structure. Results show that ’friendships’ promote cooperation but fail to produce other patterns characteristic of macaques. This highlights the importance that spatial structure may have in structuring macaque societies.
GrooFiWorld is an individual-based, computational model of social interactions that can be used t... more GrooFiWorld is an individual-based, computational model of social interactions that can be used to examine factors underlying reciprocation and interchange of social behavior in primate societies. Individuals within GrooFiWorld are programed to maintain spatial proximity and thereby form a group. When an individual encounters another individual in its proximity, the individual attacks the other if the risk of losing is low. Otherwise, the individual considers grooming the other. Patterns of social behavior that emerge in the model resemble empirical data from primates. Triadic aggression emerges when an individual attacks one of the former combatants by chance immediately after an aggressive interaction, and reciprocation and interchange of grooming and support emerge even though individuals have no intention to help others or pay back services. The model generates predictions for patterns of contra-intervention that are counterintuitive within a framework of interchange of social services, such as that individuals receive more contra-intervention from those whom they groom more frequently. Here we tested these predictions in data collected on social interactions in a group of bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata). We confirmed the predictions of the model in the sense that contraintervention was strongly correlated with dyadic aggression which suggests that contra-intervention is a subset of dyadic aggression. Adult females directed more contra-intervention to those individuals from whom they received more grooming. Further, contra-intervention was directed down the dominance hierarchy such that adult females received more contra-intervention from higher ranking females. Because these findings are consistent with the predictions from the GrooFiWorld model, they suggest that the distribution of interventions in fights is regulated by factors such as dominance rank and spatial structure rather than a motivation to help others and interchange social services.
Post-conflict affiliation between former opponents and bystanders occurs in several species of no... more Post-conflict affiliation between former opponents and bystanders occurs in several species of non-human primates. It is classified in four categories of which affiliation received by the former victim, 'consolation', has received most attention. The hypotheses of cognitive constraint and social constraint are inadequate to explain its occurrence. The cognitive constraint hypothesis is contradicted by recent evidence of 'consolation' in monkeys and the social constraint hypothesis lacks information why 'consolation' actually happens. Here, we combine a computational model and an empirical study to investigate the minimum cognitive requirements for post-conflict affiliation. In the individual-based model, individuals are steered by cognitively simple behavioural rules. Individuals group and when nearby each other they fight if they are likely to win, otherwise, they may groom, especially when anxious. We parameterize the model after empirical data of a tolerant species, the Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana). We find evidence for the four categories of post-conflict affiliation in the model and in the empirical data. We explain how in the model these patterns emerge from the combination of a weak hierarchy, social facilitation, risk-sensitive aggression, interactions with partners close-by and grooming as tension-reduction mechanism. We indicate how this may function as a new explanation for empirical data.
Complex social behaviour of primates has usually been attributed to the operation of complex cogn... more Complex social behaviour of primates has usually been attributed to the operation of complex cognition. Recently, models have shown that constraints imposed by the socio-spatial structuring of individuals in a group may result in an unexpectedly high number of patterns of complex social behaviour, resembling the dominance styles of egalitarian and despotic species of macaques and the differences between them. This includes affiliative patterns, such as reciprocation of grooming, grooming up the hierarchy, and reconciliation. In the present study, we show that the distribution of support in fights, which is the social behaviour that is potentially most sophisticated in terms of cognitive processes, may emerge in the same way. The model represents the spatial grouping of individuals and their social behaviour, such as their avoidance of risks during attacks, the self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing their fights, their tendency to join in fights of others that are close by (s...
Uploads
Papers by Ivan Puga
individuals interact more with close-by partners and thus several behavioural patterns emerge. In GrooFiWorld, however, individuals
have no preferential interactions; whereas in primates, individuals prefer interactions with ’friends’. The distribution of interactions, then, may be influenced by ’friendships’ rather than spatial structure. To study
this, here, we omitted space from the model and investigated the eects of ’friendships’ on the emergence of social behaviour and network structure. Results show that ’friendships’ promote cooperation but fail to produce other patterns characteristic of macaques. This highlights the importance that spatial structure may have in structuring macaque societies.
group. When an individual encounters another individual in its proximity, the individual attacks the other if the risk of losing is low. Otherwise, the individual considers grooming the other. Patterns of social behavior that emerge in the model resemble empirical data from primates. Triadic aggression emerges when an individual attacks one of the former combatants by chance immediately after an aggressive interaction, and reciprocation and interchange of grooming and support emerge even though
individuals have no intention to help others or pay back services. The model generates predictions for patterns of contra-intervention that are counterintuitive within a framework of interchange of social services, such as that individuals receive more contra-intervention from those whom they groom more frequently. Here we tested these predictions in data collected on social interactions in a group of bonnet
macaques (Macaca radiata). We confirmed the predictions of the model in the sense that contraintervention was strongly correlated with dyadic aggression which suggests that contra-intervention is a subset of dyadic aggression. Adult females directed more contra-intervention to those individuals from
whom they received more grooming. Further, contra-intervention was directed down the dominance hierarchy such that adult females received more contra-intervention from higher ranking females. Because these findings are consistent with the predictions from the GrooFiWorld model, they suggest
that the distribution of interventions in fights is regulated by factors such as dominance rank and spatial structure rather than a motivation to help others and interchange social services.