How natural selection can create both self- and other-regarding preferences, and networked minds

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary game theory
• Behavioral economics
• Social evolution

Background:

• Biological competition is theorized to drive the evolution of selfish preferences, a concept central to 'homo economicus' in economics.
• Empirical and experimental data also support the existence of other-regarding preferences, challenging purely self-interested models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a unified theory explaining both self-regarding and other-regarding preferences.
• To investigate the role of intergenerational migration in shaping evolutionary outcomes of competition.

Main Methods:

• A theoretical model simulating spatially interacting agents playing the prisoner's dilemma game.
• Agents inherit a 'friendliness' trait, subject to mutations, with fitness-based selection determining reproduction.
• Analysis of how intergenerational migration influences the evolution of cooperative and selfish behaviors.

Main Results:

• Intergenerational migration is identified as a key factor determining whether evolutionary competition leads to self-regarding ('homo economicus') or other-regarding ('homo socialis') preferences.
• The model explains the emergence of individually varied utility functions and conditional cooperation.

Conclusions:

• The study provides an evolutionarily grounded framework for understanding other-regarding agents.
• It suggests the need for complementary economic theories that account for 'networked minds' and social behavior.