The Effects of Affective Social Bonds on the Interactions and Survival of Simulated Agents

Abstract

The formation and maintenance of affective social bonds plays a key role in the well-being of social agents. Oxytocin has been correlated with social partner preference, and it is hypothesised to influence prosocial behaviours. In this paper, we investigate the effects of modulating the preference of affective social bond partners through oxytocin during decisions related to food-sharing and grooming, in a society of simulated agents with different dominance ranks. Our results show survival benefits for agents with affective social bonds across a number of groups with different bond combinations. We observe a number of emergent social behaviours and suggest that our results bear some similarity with behaviors observed in biological agents.