Limited Cognitive Abilities and Dominance Hierarchy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a model where limited cognitive abilities influence the emergence of dominance hierarchies, demonstrating how different social structures naturally arise as optimal strategies in a Hawk-Dove game.

Contribution

It presents a novel model linking cognitive limitations to the formation of hierarchical social structures, explaining their emergence as fitness-maximizing strategies.

Findings

Linear hierarchies emerge at certain cognitive levels

Despotism structures arise under different cognitive constraints

Hierarchies are shown to be fitness-optimal in the model

Abstract

We propose a novel model to explain the mechanisms underlying dominance hierarchical structures. Guided by a predetermined social convention, agents with limited cognitive abilities optimize their strategies in a Hawk-Dove game. We find that several commonly observed hierarchical structures in nature such as linear hierarchy and despotism, emerge as the total fitness-maximizing social structures given different levels of cognitive abilities.