Emergence and enforcement of social behavior

Complex social systems require an understanding of individuals, networks, institutions and cultures. Where regulations assure efficient coordination between individuals and groups and their needs and requirements, cultural and personality differences result in different behaviors and interpretations of global aims. Due to the dynamic mechanisms of social interaction, this results in a cyclic pattern with norms enforcing behavior and behavior generating norms. Current modeling tools often only consider one or the other direction of this cycle. I.e. one can either design systems where individual behavior is 'forced' to adhere to institutional norms, or analyze the emergence of global behavior resulting from 'free' individual behaviors. In this paper, we propose a framework for the design and analysis of social systems that integrates a top-down (prescription of behavior) view with a bottom-up (description of behavior) view. Such models enable the understanding of patterns of influence between individual behavior and social norms and vice-versa. For the social organization, the framework is based on the OperA model that enables the representation of groups and organizations in a way that guarantees independence from individual architectures but enables individual interpretations and the emergence of regulation patterns. For the individual level, the framework uses the BRIDGE agent architecture, a modular cognitive agent architecture that extends BDI models with modules for the specification of personality types, urge hierarchies and different normative and cultural attitudes. One of the most important premises of the framework is that both emerging norms as well as imposed norms do influence individual behavior but individuals can always violate norms (for personal reasons or in a particular situation). The consequences of violating norms might be an explicit sanction, but can also have only very implicit consequences. E.g. violating a speed limit may lead to a fine from the police, but violating the norm that one should always drive as fast as the speed limit might have as consequence that other drivers don't keep their distance or try to overtake in a dangerous places. The way these possible consequences play a role in the decision forming process of an individual depends on the personality type of the individual, but also on the culture and even on the urges. An individual that forms part of a culture where conformity to majorities is very important will avoid deviating from any norm. However, in case an individual really needs to find a toilet very quickly he might disobey a speed limit. Finally, some individuals have personalities that put objective ideal situations over subjective judgments of other individuals. They might obey the speed limit if they agree with the motive behind it and will not hesitate to violate it (even if most people disagree) if they don't agree with the norm. In our framework we want to study the relative importance of these different factors on the effectiveness of norms and regulations on societies under certain conditions. Which type of behavioral patterns will emerge given a certain distribution of individual traits and how will this affect the functioning of the society as a whole?.