Selfish Behavior Research Articles

Moral wiggle room and group favoritism among political partisans.

How does the availability of excuses for self-interested behavior impact group favoritism? We report the results of a preregistered experiment, conducted on the eve of the 2022 midterm elections, in which American political partisans made payoff distribution choices for themselves and a partner who was known to be a co-partisan or opposing partisan. Under full information, participants exhibit significant group favoritism. However, when the payoff consequences for one's partner are initially hidden, participants exploit this excuse to act selfishly regardless of who their partner is and ignorance rates are identical for in-group and out-group members. As a result, moral wiggle room has a significantly larger impact on selfish behavior for those interacting with co-partisans than opposing partisans, leading to a reduction in group favoritism.

Social Trust Confirmation-Based Selfish Node Detection Algorithm in Socially Aware Networks

Nodes in socially aware networks (SANs) may act selfishly on individual bases due to resource constraints and socially selfish behavior arising from the social preferences of nodes. In response to such selfish behaviors exhibited by nodes, this paper proposes a social trust confirmation-based selfish node detection algorithm (STCDA). This algorithm first utilizes a subjective forwarding willingness detection mechanism to discern selfishness. If a node’s energy is insufficient or its message rejection rate is too high—that is, the node cannot or is unwilling to forward messages—it indicates that the node is selfish. Otherwise, it is evaluated more thoroughly through the node’s social trust detection mechanisms. It calculates the social trust level of nodes based on the benefits of forwarding messages, thereby distinguishing between individually selfish nodes and socially selfish nodes in the network. If further evaluation is needed, the final judgment will be made using the message confirmation feedback detection mechanism. This checks the message information forwarded by nodes in the network. If nodes fail to forward messages after receiving them—excluding reasons such as message expiration or temporary insufficient cache space—it indicates that the nodes are selfish. Results from experimental simulations show that this algorithm performs better than traditional algorithms. Under conditions of 80% selfish nodes, a message TTL of 300 min, and 10 MB of cache space, it improves the message delivery rate by 5.87% and reduces the average delay by 6.2% compared to the existing comprehensive confirmation-based selfish node detection algorithm.

The significance of P.V. Simonov’s “need-information theory of emotions” in the development of modern neurobiology of behavior

The current paper shows the importance of the need-information theory of P.V. Simonov in the development of modern neurobiology of behavior. The essence of the theory and the underlying fundamental principles of the organization of behavior-environmental uncertainty, probabilistic predictions of reinforcement are briefly described. The first section reviews the current data on the important role of uncertain environments and probabilistic predictions in organization of behavior. Attention is drawn to the reinforcement prediction error and its significance in the organization of both social and individual behavior, as well as its role in the consolidation and reconsolidation of memory. The second section shows the influence of need-information theory on the development of the theoretical and experimental basis of individual differences, with a scheme presented for explaining such differences based on the fundamental principles of theory. The next section examines the role of need-information theory in understanding the mechanisms of decision-making under risk conditions, and the importance of the theory as a conceptual basis for the new developing field of science – neuroeconomics. And finally, the 4th section considers in detail the model of emotional resonance (contagion) proposed by P. Simonov, and modern views on social behavior, in general, and the altruistic and selfish behavior of rodents, in particular.

The motive matters: Experimental evidence on the expressive function of punishment

The literature on punishment and prosocial behavior has presented conflicting findings. In some settings, punishment crowds out prosocial behavior and backfires; in others, however, it promotes prosociality. We examine whether the punisher's motives can help reconcile these results through a novel experiment in which the agent's outcomes are identical in two environments, but in one the pre-emptive punishment scheme is self-serving (i.e., potentially benefits the punisher), while in the other it is other-regarding (i.e., potentially benefits a third party). We find that self-serving punishment reduces the social stigma of selfish behavior, while other-regarding punishment does not. Self-serving punishment is thus less effective at encouraging compliance and is more likely to backfire. We further show that the normative message is somewhat weaker when punishment is less costly for the punisher. Our findings have implications for the design of punishment mechanisms and highlight the importance of the punisher's motives in expressing norms.

A new highly efficient MAC protocol for WBAN: exceptional performance in the face of selfish behaviors

Over the last two decades, wireless body area networks (WBANs) have gained significant traction in healthcare applications. These networks facilitate connections among various sensors, which can be integrated into clothing, placed directly on the body, or implanted beneath the skin. While these sensors typically serve a single application, they generate traffic with diverse requirements. Managing this diversity necessitates tailored treatment to meet specific traffic needs while satisfying application requirements such as reliability and timeliness. In this paper, we propose a novel, flexible, and power-efficient medium access control (MAC) protocol designed to seamlessly complement existing solutions. Our protocol, available in two versions as an enhancement to the beacon-enabled mode of IEEE 802.15.4, aims to optimize quality of service (QoS) for periodic traffic applications within WBANs, irrespective of traffic and density conditions, without compromising energy efficiency. Our results demonstrate significant improvements compared to the standardized IEEE 802.15.4-MAC protocol across all test scenarios, even in the presence of selfish behaviors. These findings underscore the protocol’s efficacy in enhancing reliability and efficiency in wireless healthcare systems.

Leader-Experienced Unfairness, Leader Status, and Subordinates’ Licensing of Leader Selfish Behavior

Leader-Experienced Unfairness, Leader Status, and Subordinates’ Licensing of Leader Selfish Behavior

Adaptive multidimensional trust-based recommendation model for peer to peer applications

Abstract In today’s world, the widespread utilization of services such as Nearby Share, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Wi-Fi Direct for deploying various applications has significantly bolstered the demand for reliable and secure distributed ad-hoc peer-to-peer networks. Yet, ensuring the trustworthiness of participating nodes remains a significant challenge. Trust among nodes plays a pivotal role in collaborative network applications, especially in environments like Mobile Ad-hoc Networks and VANET (Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks). Evaluating the trustworthiness of nodes is essential for promptly identifying misleading entities, thereby preemptively preventing their involvement in ongoing transactions. Attributes or characteristics exhibited by nodes, such as honesty, selfishness, or malicious behavior, serve as key factors in trust computation. The effectiveness of trust evaluation directly influences the encouragement of honest nodes and the deterrence of malicious ones, thereby nurturing a healthy and competitive network ecosystem. Recognizing the dynamic nature of network environments, trust computation methods must be adaptable and diverse. The adaptive multidimensional trust (AMT) model introduced in this article goes beyond simple reputation assessment. It offers three distinct methods such as Direct Trust ( Direct Trust ) \left({{\rm{Direct}}}_{{\rm{Trust}}}) , multiple security parameters, identification of qualified recommenders, which got selected dynamically as per change in trust ratings of peers. AMT advocates for an incentive-driven approach to identify legitimate peers, monitoring gradual increases in their performance ratings, whereas, spikes in performance alert to potential colluding peers or nodes displaying erratic behavior. This article evaluates the effectiveness of the AMT through a case study focused on an E-commerce application. It scrutinizes the model’s performance across different percentages of malicious nodes within the network, providing a thorough analysis and discussion of the results based on the trust value of malicious and benign peers and efficiency by selecting genuine service for transaction.

Menumbuhkan Cinta Tanah Air Melalui Teknologi Dalam Konteks Wawasan Kebangsaan Pada Generasi Muda

The increasing use of social media in society, especially among teenagers, shows significant technological advances. The easier access to the Internet and social networks, the negative impacts of globalization especially afflict many young people who exhibit violent, pragmatic, desperate, selfish, and hopeless behavior. The cyberspace industry creates a young generation that is passive, does not think critically, is negatively reconciled, and is not creative. Positive campaigns on social media and active participation of the younger generation in sharing positive experiences and stories about their homeland can be a catalyst for building a positive atmosphere in the digital realm. In writing this article, the author used two methods, namely, interviews and literature studies. In the interview method, the author interviewed several sources to find out their knowledge and opinions about the national vision. Then by using the literature study method, the author sources his data through books, and other scientific articles related to the national vision.

Perceiving greater commitment increases selfishness among disagreeable people.

Perceiving that a partner is highly committed tends to benefit close relationships. However, there may be relational drawbacks to perceiving high commitment. In particular, given that high commitment may signal that a partner is unlikely to leave the relationship, perceiving that a partner is highly committed might lead people low in agreeableness to feel comfortable behaving more selfishly toward that partner. One correlational study consisting of a highly diverse sample of individuals (n = 307), one observational study of newlywed couples (n = 202), and one experiment with undergraduate couples (n = 252) examined whether the implications of perceived partner commitment for selfish behaviors depend on agreeableness. Results demonstrated that perceiving high commitment resulted in more selfish behavior among disagreeable participants (Studies 1-3), but less selfish behavior among agreeable participants (Studies 1 and 3). Together, these results suggest that signaling commitment to disagreeable partners may backfire in romantic relationships.

Reliable community card system for detecting and isolating selfish vehicles in smart and connected communities‐based VDTN's

AbstractSmart and connected communities (SCC) is a new area of the Internet of Things with the potential to improve people's lives. The goal of developing SCC for a community is to encourage people to focus on the present, consider the future, and reflect on the past. In SCC, nodes (vehicles) can use their mobility to collect data from interconnected devices and send it to a variety of delay‐tolerant applications. Vehicular delay tolerant networks are an ideal fit for such services. However, the problem is that the devices and nodes (vehicles), having limited resources, may become unwilling to cooperate due to their selfish behavior. This article presents a reliable community card system (RCCS) with two main parts: a reliable community and community‐based card tracking system (CBCTS). The reliable community contains all trustworthy vehicles with a certain level of community reputation determined by their honesty level. In CBCTS, every vehicle needs a community card to participate in the network and the neighboring vehicles act as monitoring vehicle. The evaluation results show that the proposed RCCS is quite effective, with detection time and packet delivery. Similarly, it causes minimal overhead and energy consumption compared to all other existing techniques.

Selfish attack detection and response using cooperative backoff adjustment in wireless sensor networks

In recent times, the proliferation of intelligent internet of things (IoT) and wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies has significantly enhanced both daily life and industrial operations. Despite their widespread application, these networks face challenges with resource monopolization by selfish nodes, which detrimentally impacts network efficiency. This study introduces a novel detection and response strategy for selfish nodes, utilizing backoff adjustment mechanisms to reduce throughput deterioration. The effectiveness of this approach was rigorously evaluated using the NetSim simulator, focusing on the impact of backoff adjustment on network throughput. Simulation results indicate that the implementation of this method in the presence of selfish nodes yields a noteworthy improvement in network throughput, with approximately more than twice. This advancement holds promise for enhancing the robustness and efficiency of IoT and WSN technologies against disruptive selfish node behaviors.

Persistence in repeated games encourages the evolution of spite

Social behavior is divided into four types: altruism, spite, mutualism, and selfishness. The former two are costly to the actor; therefore, from the perspective of natural selection, their existence can be regarded as mysterious. One potential setup which encourages the evolution of altruism and spite is repeated interaction. Players can behave conditionally based on their opponent's previous actions in the repeated interaction. On the one hand, the retaliatory strategy (who behaves altruistically when their opponent behaved altruistically and behaves non-altruistically when the opponent player behaved non-altruistically) is likely to evolve when players choose altruistic or selfish behavior in each round. On the other hand, the anti-retaliatory strategy (who is spiteful when the opponent was not spiteful and is not spiteful when the opponent player was spiteful) is likely to evolve when players opt for spiteful or mutualistic behavior in each round. These successful conditional behaviors can be favored by natural selection. Here, we notice that information on opponent players’ actions is not always available. When there is no such information, players cannot determine their behavior according to their opponent's action. By investigating the case of altruism, a previous study (Kurokawa, 2017, Mathematical Biosciences, 286, 94–103) found that persistent altruistic strategies, which choose the same action as the own previous action, are favored by natural selection. How, then, should a spiteful conditional strategy behave when the player does not know what their opponent did? By studying the repeated game, we find that persistent spiteful strategies, which choose the same action as the own previous action, are favored by natural selection. Altruism and spite differ concerning whether retaliatory or anti-retaliatory strategies are favored by natural selection; however, they are identical concerning whether persistent strategies are favored by natural selection.

Only Child Male and their Perception Towards Romantic Relationship and Gender Roles

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide a thorough understanding of the attitudes and experiences of only child men by examining their opinions of romantic relationships and gender roles. Due to the lack of siblings, the historical concept of "only child syndrome" has perpetuated unfavourable perceptions about only children, implying possible social skill impairments or selfish behaviour (Falbo & Polit, 1986). Modern research, however, contradicts these theories, showing that only children frequently perform comparably to siblings and, in specific situations, even outperform them in particular areas (Falbo & Polit, 1986). This study (Braithwaite & Holt-Lunstad, 2017) offers a nuanced perspective among only child guys, who value equality, partnership, and mutual respect in their romantic relationships through qualitative interviews and thematic analysis. They stress how important it is to spend time together, give back to the community, and engage in similar interests in order to promote emotional closeness and fulfilment (Falbo & Polit, 1986). Additionally, participants advocate for flexibility and shared responsibility in partnerships, rejecting established gender norms (Bukowski et al., 1987). Good communication techniques, such having candid conversations and paying attention, become essential instruments for resolving disputes and preserving harmonious relationships (Furman & Shaffer, 2003). These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of contemporary relationship dynamics by challenging stereotypes and providing insights into building fulfilling and healthy partnerships among male only children (Bukowski et al., 1987).

Inter-clonal competition over queen succession imposes a cost of parthenogenesis on termite colonies.

In social insect colonies, selfish behaviour due to intracolonial conflict among members can result in colony-level costs despite close relatedness. In certain termite species, queens use asexual reproduction for within-colony queen succession but rely on sexual reproduction for worker and alate production, resulting in multiple half-clones of a single primary queen competing for personal reproduction. Our study demonstrates that competition over asexual queen succession among different clone types leads to the overproduction of parthenogenetic offspring, resulting in the production of dysfunctional parthenogenetic alates. By genotyping the queens of 23 field colonies of Reticulitermes speratus, we found that clone variation in the queen population reduces as colonies develop. Field sampling of alates and primary reproductives of incipient colonies showed that overproduced parthenogenetic offspring develop into alates that have significantly smaller body sizes and much lower survivorship than sexually produced alates. Our results indicate that while the production of earlier and more parthenogenetic eggs is advantageous for winning the competition for personal reproduction, it comes at a great cost to the colony. Thus, this study highlights the evolutionary interplay between individual-level and colony-level selection on parthenogenesis by queens.

Islamic business ethics of culinary business actors by Pontianak City

As a business actor, the importance of behavior in pursuing the world of business, business ethics or moral values is a critical point that becomes an important handle. Business ethics in Islam here has an orientation to maintain the rules that have been applied in accordance with Islamic sharia and do not approach the nature of greed and selfish behavior. Not a few business actors who do not pay more attention to ethics in the scope of their business activities, the role of ethics here is very important, especially in business transactions in it. This study aims to determine the use of business ethics principles in business activities and their implementation in the form of production results by culinary business actors souvenirs of Pontianak City. By using five principles of business ethics in the form of tawhid principles, balance principles, free will principles, responsibility principles, virtue principles, and this research involved 30 business actors who are Muslim and used Likert scale analysis methods. Based on the results of Likert scale analysis, it shows that business actors have used the principles of Islamic business ethics and implemented the form of products that are produced well so that they can be accepted by the market.

Taguchi Method Based Node Performance Analysis of Generous TIT- for-TAT Cooperation of AD-HOC Networks

Ad-Hoc networks have an adaptive architecture, temporarily configured to provide communication between wireless devices that provide network nodes. Forwarding packets from the source node to the remote destination node may require intermediate cooperative nodes (relay nodes), which may act selfishly because they are power-constrained. The nodes should exhibit cooperation even when faced with occasional selfish or non-cooperative behaviour from other nodes. Several factors affect the behaviour of nodes; those factors are the number of packets required to redirect, power consumption per node, and power constraints per node. Power constraints per node and grade of generosity. This article is based on a dynamic collaboration strategy, specifically the Generous Tit-for-Tat (GTFT), and it aims to represent an Ad-Hoc network operating with the Generous Tit-for-Tat (GTFT) cooperation strategy, measure statistics for the data, and then analyze these statistics using the Taguchi method. The transfer speed and relay node performance both have an impact on the factors that shape the network conditions and are subject to analysis using the Taguchi Method (TM). The analyzed parameters are node throughput, the amount of relay requested packets produced by a node per number of relays requested packets taken by a node, and the amount of accepted relay requested by a node per amount of relay requested by a node. A Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was used to analyze node behaviour, and the results show that the effect parameters were number of packets, power consumption, power constraint of the node, and grade of generosity. The tested parameters influence node cooperation in the following sequence: number of packets required to redirect (N) (effects on behaviour with a percent of 6.8491), power consumption per node (C) (effects on behaviour with a percent of 0.7467), power constraints per node (P) (effects on behaviour with a percent of 0.6831), and grade of generosity (ε) (effects on behaviour with a percent of 0.4530). Taguchi experiments proved that the grade of generosity (GoG) is not the influencing factor where the highest productivity level is, while the number of packets per second required to redirect also has an impact on node behaviour.

Efficient Algorithm for Proportional Lumpability and Its Application to Selfish Mining in Public Blockchains

This paper explores the concept of proportional lumpability as an extension of the original definition of lumpability, addressing the challenges posed by the state space explosion problem in computing performance indices for large stochastic models. Lumpability traditionally relies on state aggregation techniques and is applicable to Markov chains demonstrating structural regularity. Proportional lumpability extends this idea, proposing that the transition rates of a Markov chain can be modified by certain factors, resulting in a lumpable new Markov chain. This concept facilitates the derivation of precise performance indices for the original process. This paper establishes the well-defined nature of the problem of computing the coarsest proportional lumpability that refines a given initial partition, ensuring a unique solution exists. Additionally, a polynomial time algorithm is introduced to solve this problem, offering valuable insights into both the concept of proportional lumpability and the broader realm of partition refinement techniques. The effectiveness of proportional lumpability is demonstrated through a case study that consists of designing a model to investigate selfish mining behaviors on public blockchains. This research contributes to a better understanding of efficient approaches for handling large stochastic models and highlights the practical applicability of proportional lumpability in deriving exact performance indices.

Inequality reduction and cooperation: Injection of additional resources

We experimentally examine if reductions in inequality that do not lower the endowments of the rich raise contributions to public goods in formerly unequal groups. Even injections of additional resources directed to the poor fail to raise cooperation to levels observed in groups that were always equal and have fewer resources. Our results suggest that the poor mimic the unchanging selfish behaviour of the rich, and divert resources to private consumption.

A Game Theoretical Analysis of Non-linear Blockchain System

Recent advances in blockchain research have been made in two important directions. One is refined resilience analysis utilizing game theory to study the consequences of selfish behavior of users (miners), and the other is the extension from a linear (chain) structure to a non-linear (graphical) structure for performance improvements, such as IOTA and Graphcoin. The first question that comes to mind is what improvements a blockchain system would see by leveraging these new advances. In this article, we consider three major properties for a blockchain system: α-partial verification, scalability, and finality-duration. We establish a formal framework and prove that no blockchain system can achieve α-partial verification for any fixed constant α, high scalability, and low finality-duration simultaneously. We observe that classical blockchain systems like Bitcoin achieve full verification (α =1) and low finality-duration, Ethereum 2.0 Sharding achieves low finality-duration and high scalability. We are interested in whether it is possible to partially satisfy the three properties.

Individual differences in spite predict costly third-party punishment.

Spiteful behaviors are those aimed at inflicting harm on another person while also incurring a cost to the self. Although spite sometimes reflects destructive and socially undesirable behaviors including aggression, the current work sought to examine a potentially socially beneficial aspect of spite: engagement in costly punishment for selfish behavior. Four studies used a costly third-party punishment task and measured individual differences in spite, narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and motivations for engaging in punishment. Trait spite was positively associated with costly punishment of selfish behavior. That association was independent of other dark personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and was statistically mediated by a desire for retribution. One of the studies also provided evidence that trait spite was associated with costly punishment of even generous behavior; however, rather than a desire for retribution, that association was mediated by a desire to threaten the person being punished. Punishing selfishness and other forms of wrongdoing plays an essential role in cooperative group living. The current work provides new insight into the role spiteful motivations might play in this crucial social behavior.