Universal modesty in signal-burying games. Issue 1906 (3rd July 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Universal modesty in signal-burying games. Issue 1906 (3rd July 2019)
- Main Title:
- Universal modesty in signal-burying games
- Authors:
- Quillien, Tadeg
- Abstract:
- Abstract : Why would individuals hide positive information about themselves? Evolutionary game theorists have recently developed the signal-burying game as a simple model to shed light on this puzzle. They have shown that the game has an equilibrium where some agents are better off deliberately reducing the visibility of the signal by which they broadcast their positive traits. However, this equilibrium also features individuals who fully broadcast their positive traits. Here, we show that the signal-burying framework can also explain modesty norms that everyone adheres to: the game contains an equilibrium where all agents who send a signal voluntarily reduce its conspicuousness. Surprisingly, the stability of the two kinds of equilibria rely on very different principles. The equilibrium where some agents brag is stable because of costly signalling dynamics. By contrast, the universal modesty equilibrium exists because buried signals contain probabilistic information about a sender's type, and receivers make optimal use of this information. In the latter equilibrium, burying a signal can be understood as a handicap which makes the signal more honest, but honesty is not achieved through standard costly signalling dynamics.
- Is Part Of:
- Proceedings. Volume 286:Issue 1906(2019)
- Journal:
- Proceedings
- Issue:
- Volume 286:Issue 1906(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 286, Issue 1906 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 286
- Issue:
- 1906
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0286-1906-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2019-07-03
- Subjects:
- evolutionary game theory -- signalling -- agent-based model
Biology -- Periodicals
570.5 - Journal URLs:
- https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1098/rspb.2019.0985 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0962-8452
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library STI - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 11163.xml