Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable
Abstract The ability to learn from others (social learning) is often deemed a cause of human species success. But if social learning is indeed more efficient (whether less costly or more accurate) than individual learning, it raises the question of why would anyone engage in individual information s...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95914-7 |
| _version_ | 1818992874398679040 |
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| author | Benoît de Courson Léo Fitouchi Jean-Philippe Bouchaud Michael Benzaquen |
| author_facet | Benoît de Courson Léo Fitouchi Jean-Philippe Bouchaud Michael Benzaquen |
| author_sort | Benoît de Courson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The ability to learn from others (social learning) is often deemed a cause of human species success. But if social learning is indeed more efficient (whether less costly or more accurate) than individual learning, it raises the question of why would anyone engage in individual information seeking, which is a necessary condition for social learning’s efficacy. We propose an evolutionary model solving this paradox, provided agents (i) aim not only at information quality but also vie for audience and prestige, and (ii) do not only value accuracy but also reward originality—allowing them to alleviate herding effects. We find that under some conditions (large enough success rate of informed agents and intermediate taste for popularity), both social learning’s higher accuracy and the taste for original opinions are evolutionarily-stable, within a mutually beneficial division of labour-like equilibrium. When such conditions are not met, the system most often converges towards mutually detrimental equilibria. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:33:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-03650f0c8b5146c1b73f631d539c4c1b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:33:06Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-03650f0c8b5146c1b73f631d539c4c1b2022-12-21T19:27:18ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-08-0111111510.1038/s41598-021-95914-7Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stableBenoît de Courson0Léo Fitouchi1Jean-Philippe Bouchaud2Michael Benzaquen3LadHyX, UMR CNRS 7646, Ecole PolytechniqueInstitut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, PSL Research University, CNRSChair of Econophysics & Complex Systems, Ecole PolytechniqueLadHyX, UMR CNRS 7646, Ecole PolytechniqueAbstract The ability to learn from others (social learning) is often deemed a cause of human species success. But if social learning is indeed more efficient (whether less costly or more accurate) than individual learning, it raises the question of why would anyone engage in individual information seeking, which is a necessary condition for social learning’s efficacy. We propose an evolutionary model solving this paradox, provided agents (i) aim not only at information quality but also vie for audience and prestige, and (ii) do not only value accuracy but also reward originality—allowing them to alleviate herding effects. We find that under some conditions (large enough success rate of informed agents and intermediate taste for popularity), both social learning’s higher accuracy and the taste for original opinions are evolutionarily-stable, within a mutually beneficial division of labour-like equilibrium. When such conditions are not met, the system most often converges towards mutually detrimental equilibria.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95914-7 |
| spellingShingle | Benoît de Courson Léo Fitouchi Jean-Philippe Bouchaud Michael Benzaquen Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable Scientific Reports |
| title | Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| title_full | Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| title_fullStr | Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| title_short | Cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| title_sort | cultural diversity and wisdom of crowds are mutually beneficial and evolutionarily stable |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95914-7 |
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