A review of norms and normative multiagent systems.

Moamin A. Mahmoud,Aida Mustapha,Mohd Zaliman Mohd Yusoff,Mohd Sharifuddin Ahmad

doi:10.1155/2014/684587

Moamin A. Mahmoud, Aida Mustapha + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/684587

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Abstract

Norms and normative multiagent systems have become the subjects of interest for many researchers. Such interest is caused by the need for agents to exploit the norms in enhancing their performance in a community. The term norm is used to characterize the behaviours of community members. The concept of normative multiagent systems is used to facilitate collaboration and coordination among social groups of agents. Many researches have been conducted on norms that investigate the fundamental concepts, definitions, classification, and types of norms and normative multiagent systems including normative architectures and normative processes. However, very few researches have been found to comprehensively study and analyze the literature in advancing the current state of norms and normative multiagent systems. Consequently, this paper attempts to present the current state of research on norms and normative multiagent systems and propose a norm's life cycle model based on the review of the literature. Subsequently, this paper highlights the significant areas for future work.

Highlights

The term social norms is used to define the behaviors of society members
Norm detection is critical in overcoming the problem that occurs from its absence in research, which is the offline design of norms [5, 48, 51, 68]
This paper reviews the study of normative multiagent systems from two disciplines, which are software agent technology and social norms

Summary

Introduction

The term social norms is used to define the behaviors of society members. Social norms as defined by Cialdini and Trost [1] are “rules and standards that are understood by members of a group and that guide and/or constrain social behavior without the force of laws.”. Social norms are informal rules and standards which are socially shared and comparative stable guides of society members’ behaviors. The informal and nonobligatory character implies the presence of social reinforcements, such as agreement or disagreement, and discriminate social norms from laws [2]. Norms usually direct the option of behaviors in human communities. Norms manage a variety of phenomena, involving “property rights, contracts, bargains, forms of communication, and concepts of justice,” and regulate a uniform behavior within a social group but often differ substantially among groups [4]. Norms changes could happen, due to objective circumstances or changes in subjective perceptions and expectations [4]

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