Dominance hierarchies and social diversity in multi-agent systems

In this study, we investigate self-organizing social hierarchies in multi-agent systems. Agents occupy the nodes of a small-world network and interact exclusively with other agents in their local neighbourhood. Here, the interactions represent competition for a limited resource. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the changes in a network's structure can alter the steady-state attributes for fixed reward/penalty mechanisms. The results suggest that the expected phase transition from a homogeneous to a hierarchical society depends on: (a) the relative strengths of the feedback mechanisms employed, (b) the underlying communication topology, and (c) whether previously dominated agents are replaced in the population by agents with higher social status. A key contribution of this paper is the coherent picture painted of the relationship between social differentiation and spatial structure in a multi-agent system.