An Agent-Based Model of Prosocial Equilibrium: The Role of Religiously Motivated Behaviour in the Formation and Maintenance of Large-Scale Societies

Abstract

This paper outlines a new agent-based model that represents the dynamics by which a society achieves and maintains prosocial equilibrium. The latter is understood as a social balance involving the interplay of prosocial behavior, anxiety, environmental threats, and religiosity in the population. Experiments showed that the model was able to simulate the emergence of relatively large societies under the sorts of conditions that would be expected based on the theoretical literature and other empirical findings in the relevant fields. We conclude by describing the main insights of the simulation experiments and pointing toward future work currently being planned by the research team.