Computational modelling of trust and social relationships

Abstract

A computational model for the development of social relationships is described. The model implements agent strategies for social interaction based on Dunbar's Social Brain Hypothesis (SBH). A trust related process controls the formation and decay of relationships as a function of interaction frequency, the history of interaction, and the agents' strategies. A good fit the SBH predictions was found across a range of model parameter settings, which varied the waning rate of trust, defect/cooperation rates for agents, and linear/log functions for trust increase and decay. Social interaction strategies which favour interacting with existing strong ties or a time variant strategy produced more SBH conformant results than strategies favour more weaker relationships. The prospects for modeling the emergence of social relationships are discussed.