Towards a computational model of social norms

TL;DR

This paper introduces a computational model of social norms based on culture-specific values, enabling realistic social simulations and understanding human behavior in social contexts.

Contribution

It presents a novel model using Culture-Sanctioned Social Metrics (CSSMs) to quantify social norms and demonstrates its application in complex scenarios.

Findings

Model can explain irrational human behaviors

Enables realistic social simulations

Predicts behavior in social-cultural settings

Abstract

We describe a computational model of social norms based on identifying values that a certain culture finds desirable such as dignity, generosity and politeness. The model quantifies these values in the form of Culture-Sanctioned Social Metrics (CSSMs) and treats social norms as the requirement to maximize these metrics from the perspective of the self, peers and public. This model can be used to create realistic social simulations, to explain or predict human behavior in specific scenarios, or as a component of robots or agents that need to interact with humans in specific social-cultural settings. We validate the model by using it to represent a complex deception scenario and showing that it can yield non-trivial insights such as the explanation of apparently irrational human behavior.