Living in Groups
01 Oct 2013-Transactional Analysis Journal (SAGE PublicationsSage CA: Los Angeles, CA)-Vol. 43, Iss: 4, pp 366-374
TL;DR: In this paper, three types of groups are described, including the impact they have on the development of the membe... and some lessons learned from a lifetime of working with and thinking about groups.
Abstract: The author shares some lessons learned from a lifetime of working with and thinking about groups. Three types of groups are described, including the impact they have on the development of the membe...
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TL;DR: It is revealed that the larger the group the smaller the proportion of informed individuals needed to guide the group, and that only a very small proportion ofinformed individuals is required to achieve great accuracy.
Abstract: For animals that forage or travel in groups, making movement decisions often depends on social interactions among group members. However, in many cases, few individuals have pertinent information, such as knowledge about the location of a food source, or of a migration route. Using a simple model we show how information can be transferred within groups both without signalling and when group members do not know which individuals, if any, have information. We reveal that the larger the group the smaller the proportion of informed individuals needed to guide the group, and that only a very small proportion of informed individuals is required to achieve great accuracy. We also demonstrate how groups can make consensus decisions, even though informed individuals do not know whether they are in a majority or minority, how the quality of their information compares with that of others, or even whether there are any other informed individuals. Our model provides new insights into the mechanisms of effective leadership and decision-making in biological systems.
2,463 citations
TL;DR: The first evidence for collective memory is presented in such animal groups (where the previous history of group structure influences the collective behaviour exhibited as individual interactions change) during the transition of a group from one type of collective behaviour to another.
1,906 citations
Cites background from "Living in Groups"
...This rule has the highest priority and corresponds to a frequently observed behaviour of animals in nature (Krause & Ruxton, 2002)....
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...The spatial structuring within groups has important ecological and evolutionary consequences (Okubo, 1980; Krause & Ruxton, 2002)....
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...All rights reserved....
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TL;DR: It is argued that a topological interaction is indispensable to maintain a flock's cohesion against the large density changes caused by external perturbations, typically predation, and supported by numerical simulations.
Abstract: Numerical models indicate that collective animal behavior may emerge from simple local rules of interaction among the individuals. However, very little is known about the nature of such interaction, so that models and theories mostly rely on aprioristic assumptions. By reconstructing the three-dimensional positions of individual birds in airborne flocks of a few thousand members, we show that the interaction does not depend on the metric distance, as most current models and theories assume, but rather on the topological distance. In fact, we discovered that each bird interacts on average with a fixed number of neighbors (six to seven), rather than with all neighbors within a fixed metric distance. We argue that a topological interaction is indispensable to maintain a flock's cohesion against the large density changes caused by external perturbations, typically predation. We support this hypothesis by numerical simulations, showing that a topological interaction grants significantly higher cohesion of the aggregation compared with a standard metric one.
1,814 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: An excellent introduction and overview of this field, written by Volker Grimm and Steven F. Railsback, should be read by everyone interested in individual-based modeling and especially by anyone contemplating developing, or being involved with a group developing, an individualbased model.
Abstract: Individual-based modeling is a new, exciting discipline that allows ecologists to explore, using computer simulations, how properties of populations and ecosystems might evolve from the characteristics and behaviors of individual organisms. Individual-based Modeling and Ecology, written by Volker Grimm and Steven F. Railsback, gives an excellent introduction and overview of this field. It should be read by everyone interested in individual-based modeling, and especially by anyone contemplating developing, or being involved with a group developing, an individualbased model.
1,495 citations
Cites background from "Living in Groups"
...), which move and behave as coherent entities (Krause and Ruxton 2002)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on simple models of active dynamics with a particular emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic dynamics of such self-propelled entities in the framework of statistical mechanics.
Abstract: We review theoretical models of individual motility as well as collective dynamics and pattern formation of active particles. We focus on simple models of active dynamics with a particular emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic dynamics of such self-propelled entities in the framework of statistical mechanics. Examples of such active units in complex physico-chemical and biological systems are chemically powered nano-rods, localized patterns in reaction-diffusion system, motile cells or macroscopic animals. Based on the description of individual motion of point-like active particles by stochastic differential equations, we discuss different velocity-dependent friction functions, the impact of various types of fluctuations and calculate characteristic observables such as stationary velocity distributions or diffusion coefficients. Finally, we consider not only the free and confined individual active dynamics but also different types of interaction between active particles. The resulting collective dynamical behavior of large assemblies and aggregates of active units is discussed and an overview over some recent results on spatiotemporal pattern formation in such systems is given.
944 citations
Cites background from "Living in Groups"
...Up to recently, experimental data on the individual behavior and collective motion patterns was rather limited [247,197]....
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...[88,272,7,85,276], or a recent review in [206]), or the biological implications of collective behavior of organisms and animals, for example, flocks of birds or schools of fish [197,69,330,145]....
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References
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TL;DR: The cognitive basis of cooperative decision-making in humans using a dual-process framework is explored and it is proposed that cooperation is intuitive because cooperative heuristics are developed in daily life where cooperation is typically advantageous.
Abstract: Economic games are used to investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying cooperative behaviour, and show that intuition supports cooperation in social dilemmas, whereas reflection can undermine these cooperative impulses. Many people are willing to make sacrifices for the common good, but little is known about the cognitive mechanisms that underlie such cooperative behaviour. In economic experiments subjects often contribute cooperatively against what rational self-interest should dictate. This study uses a series of ten varied experimental designs, including both one-shot and repeated games, to establish whether we are intuitively predisposed to cooperate or to act selfishly. And it seems our gut response is to cooperate — but given more time to think the logic of self-interest undermines collective action and we become less generous. Cooperation is central to human social behaviour1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. However, choosing to cooperate requires individuals to incur a personal cost to benefit others. Here we explore the cognitive basis of cooperative decision-making in humans using a dual-process framework10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. We ask whether people are predisposed towards selfishness, behaving cooperatively only through active self-control; or whether they are intuitively cooperative, with reflection and prospective reasoning favouring ‘rational’ self-interest. To investigate this issue, we perform ten studies using economic games. We find that across a range of experimental designs, subjects who reach their decisions more quickly are more cooperative. Furthermore, forcing subjects to decide quickly increases contributions, whereas instructing them to reflect and forcing them to decide slowly decreases contributions. Finally, an induction that primes subjects to trust their intuitions increases contributions compared with an induction that promotes greater reflection. To explain these results, we propose that cooperation is intuitive because cooperative heuristics are developed in daily life where cooperation is typically advantageous. We then validate predictions generated by this proposed mechanism. Our results provide convergent evidence that intuition supports cooperation in social dilemmas, and that reflection can undermine these cooperative impulses.
1,105 citations
TL;DR: The OK Corral: The Grid for Get-on-With is a guide to the management of public relations disasters in the age of social media.
Abstract: (1971). The OK Corral: The Grid for Get-on-With. Transactional Analysis Journal: Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 33-42.
126 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors briefly outline their evolutionary, functional analysis of human sociality and summarize accumulating empirical support for various implications derived from this conceptual analysis, focusing on four questions central to intragroup and intergroup relations.
Abstract: Group living offers humans substantial fitness-enhancing benefits, although it also affords significant fitness-decreasing costs. To enhance these benefits and reduce these costs, individuals use emotional, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms designed to help them effectively manage the complexities of life in highly interdependent groups. The authors briefly outline their evolutionary, functional analysis of human sociality and summarize accumulating empirical support for various implications derived from this conceptual analysis. In particular, the authors focus on four questions central to intragroup and intergroup relations: (a) How do people manage the need to be selective in their choice of social affiliates? (b) how do people manage the impressions others form of them? (c) how do people manage the threats that fellow group members often
59 citations
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