Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Destabilising Conventions Using Temporary Interventions

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, and Norms in Agent Systems X (COIN 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9372))

Abstract

Conventions are an important concept in multi-agent systems as they allow increased coordination amongst agents and hence a more efficient system. Encouraging and directing convention emergence has been the focus of much research, particularly through the use of fixed strategy agents. In this paper we apply temporary interventions using fixed strategy agents to destabilise an established convention by (i) replacing it with another convention of our choosing, and (ii) allowing it to destabilise in such a way that no other convention explicitly replaces it. We show that these interventions are effective and investigate the minimum level of intervention needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://jung.sourceforge.net/.

References

  1. Albert, R., Barabási, A.L.: Statistical mechanics of complex networks. Rev. Mod. Phys. 74(1), 47–95 (2002)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Axelrod, R.: An evolutionary approach to norms. Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. 80, 1095–1111 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bicchieri, C., Jeffrey, R.C., Skyrms, B.: The Dynamics of Norms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Delgado, J.: Emergence of social conventions in complex networks. Artif. Intell. 141(1–2), 171–185 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Delgado, J., Pujol, J.M., Sangüesa, R.: Emergence of coordination in scale-free networks. Web Intell. Agent Syst. 1(2), 131–138 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Franks, H., Griffiths, N., Anand, S.: Learning agent influence in MAS with complex social networks. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 28(5), 836–866 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Franks, H., Griffiths, N., Jhumka, A.: Manipulating convention emergence using influencer agents. Auton. Agent. Multi-Agent Syst. 26(3), 315–353 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Griffiths, N., Anand, S.S.: The impact of social placement of non-learning agents on convention emergence. In: 11th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, vol. 3, pp. 1367–1368. International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Richland, SC (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Kandori, M.: Social norms and community enforcement. Rev. Econ. Stud. 59(1), 63–80 (1992)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Kittock, J.: Emergent conventions and the structure of multi-agent systems. In: Lectures in Complex Systems: The Proceedings of the 1993 Complex Systems Summer School, pp. 507–521. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kleinberg, J.: Navigation in a small world. Nature 406(6798), 845–845 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mukherjee, P., Sen, S., Airiau, S.: Norm emergence with biased agents. Int. J. Agent Technol. Syst. 1(2), 71–84 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Salazar, N., Rodriguez-Aguilar, J.A., Arcos, J.L.: Robust coordination in large convention spaces. AI Commun. 23(4), 357–372 (2010)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Savarimuthu, B.T.R., Arulanandam, R., Purvis, M.: Aspects of active norm learning and the effect of lying on norm emergence in agent societies. In: Kinny, D., Hsu, J.Y., Governatori, G., Ghose, A.K. (eds.) PRIMA 2011. LNCS, vol. 7047, pp. 36–50. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Sen, S., Airiau, S.: Emergence of norms through social learning. In: 20th International Joint Conference on AI, pp. 1507–1512. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Shoham, Y., Tennenholtz, M.: On the emergence of social conventions: modeling, analysis, and simulations. Artif. Intell. 94(1–2), 139–166 (1997)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Villatoro, D., Sabater-Mir, J., Sen, S.: Social instruments for robust convention emergence. In: 22nd International Joint Conference on AI, pp. 420–425. AAAI Press (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Villatoro, D., Sen, S., Sabater-Mir, J.: Topology and memory effect on convention emergence. In: 2009 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Joint Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, vol. 2, pp. 233–240. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Walker, A., Wooldridge, M.: Understanding the emergence of conventions in multi-agent systems. In: International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems, pp. 384–389. MIT Press (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Young, H.P.: The economics of convention. J. Econ. Perspect. 10(2), 105–122 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    James Marchant, Nathan Griffiths, Matthew Leeke & Henry Franks

Authors
  1. James Marchant
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nathan Griffiths
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthew Leeke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Henry Franks
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Marchant .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science &, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    Aditya Ghose

  2. Department of Computing Science, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Nir Oren

  3. Cisco Systems Inc., Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Pankaj Telang

  4. Comp. Science and Information Technol., RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    John Thangarajah

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Marchant, J., Griffiths, N., Leeke, M., Franks, H. (2015). Destabilising Conventions Using Temporary Interventions. In: Ghose, A., Oren, N., Telang, P., Thangarajah, J. (eds) Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, and Norms in Agent Systems X. COIN 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9372. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25420-3_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25420-3_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25419-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25420-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation