How Committed Individuals Shape Social Dynamics: A Survey on Coordination Games and Social Dilemma Games

TL;DR

This survey reviews how committed individuals influence social dynamics in coordination and social dilemma games, highlighting their roles in shaping conventions and cooperation, and suggests future research directions including experiments and AI proxies.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of committed individuals on social dynamics in various game settings, and proposes new research avenues.

Findings

Committed individuals can accelerate or overturn social conventions.

They play a key role in cooperation dilemmas and solutions.

Future research includes experiments and AI-based modeling.

Abstract

Committed individuals, who features steadfast dedication to advocating strong beliefs, values, and preferences, have garnered much attention across statistical physics, social science, and computer science. This survey delves into the profound impact of committed individuals on social dynamics that emerge from coordination games and social dilemma games. Through separate examinations of their influence on coordination, including social conventions and color coordination games, and social dilemma games, including one-shot settings, repeated settings, and vaccination games, this survey reveals the significant role committed individuals play in shaping social dynamics. Their contributions range from accelerating or overturning social conventions to addressing cooperation dilemmas and expediting solutions for color coordination and vaccination issues. Furthermore, the survey outlines three promising directions for future research: conducting human behavior experiments for empirical validation, leveraging advanced large language models as proxies for committed individuals in complex scenarios, and addressing potential negative impacts of committed individuals.