Abstract
Many behaviors have been attributed to internal conflict within the animal and human mind. However, internal conflict has not been reconciled with evolutionary principles, in that it appears maladaptive relative to a seamless decision-making process. We study this problem through a mathematical analysis of decision-making structures. We find that, under natural physiological limitations, an optimal decision-making system can involve "selfish" agents that are in conflict with one another, even though the system is designed for a single purpose. It follows that conflict can emerge within a collective even when natural selection acts on the level of the collective only.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3198-3202 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 28 Feb 2006 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bounded rationality
- Collective decision making
- Computational complexity
- Levels of selection
- Modularity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General