Coalitions, Dominance and Egalitarianism

合作和支配是研究动物社会关系的核心，其中一个显著特征是线性支配等级或“啄食顺序”的出现和持续。半个多世纪以来，研究合作和支配的传统理论方法一直是将它们分开研究。但这种方法最终会导致收益递减，因为每种现象都包含了另一种现象的关键方面。一方面，统治等级是一种合作结构：组织良好的群体，其中每个人都知道并相当顺从于自己特定的社会地位，比处于组织混乱状态的类似群体更有生产力。另一方面，在统治等级中保持较高的地位对个体有好处，动物可以通过与其他动物结成联盟来帮助自己获得这些好处。研究者通过开发一套分析和计算模型来研究合作和统治之间的联系，以预测联盟形成对统治等级的出现和稳定性的影响，而不是更平等的社会结构，并确定有利于每种可能结果的条件。这些模型是“游戏”，即战略互动的数学模型。目前还没有正式的理论来预测联盟和统治等级对彼此的影响，但这种理论迫切需要指导和解释生物和社会科学的实地研究。这种非形式化理论的发展也导致了博弈论技术的进步。此外，由于有充分的理由假设社会稳定的机制在不同类型的群体中大致相似，该项目可能对解决人类之间的冲突有启示。特别是，该项目的结果应该有助于解决人类学中正在进行的争论，一些人认为平等主义社会是由其成员故意塑造的，政治阶层创造了一个“反向支配等级”，而另一些人则强调平等机制的运作与人们的意图无关。最后，一个中心目标是为生命科学和社会科学的学生开发一个在线博弈论研讨会。在这个项目中开发的所有材料——特别是许多博弈论计算机程序——都可以通过这个网站免费获得。因此，它可以作为一个永久的遗产，有可能加强每个博弈论学生的建模技能。

Cooperation and dominance are central to the study of animalsocial relations, a remarkable feature of which is the emergenceand persistence of linear dominance hierarchies or "peckingorders." For well over half a century, the conventionaltheoretical approach to cooperation and dominance has been tostudy them separately. But this approach ultimately yieldsdiminishing returns, because each phenomenon incorporates crucialaspects of the other. On the one hand, a dominance hierarchy is acooperative structure: well organized groups, in which eachindividual knows and is fairly resigned to its particular socialstatus, are more productive than similar groups in a constantstate of organizational turmoil. On the other hand, there areindividual benefits to holding high rank within a dominancehierarchy, and animals can help themselves obtain those benefitsby forming coalitions with others. The investigator studies theseconnections between cooperation and dominance by developing asuite of analytical and computational models to predict theeffects of coalition formation on the emergence and stability ofdominance hierarchies versus more egalitarian social structures,and to identify conditions that favor each possible outcome. Themodels are "games," i.e., mathematical models of strategicinteraction. There is no formal theory to predict the effects ofcoalitions and domoinance hierarchies on each other, yet suchtheory is urgently needed to guide and interpret field studies inthe biological and social sciences. The development of such aformal theory also leads to advances in game-theoretic techniques. Moreover, because there are good reasons to suppose thatmechanisms for social stability are broadly similar acrossdifferent kinds of groups, the project has likely implications forconflict resolution among humans. In particular, the results ofthe project should help to resolve an ongoing controversy inanthropology between those who argue that egalitarian societiesare deliberately shaped by their members, with the political rankand file creating a "reverse dominance hierarchy," and those whostress that levelling mechanisms operate independently of people'sintentions. Finally, a central goal is to develop an online gametheory workshop for students in the life and social sciences. Allmaterials developed during the project -- in particular, numerousgame-theoretic computer programs -- are made freely availablethrough this web site. It therefore serves as a permanent legacy,with the potential to strengthen the modelling skills of everystudent of game theory.