A survey suggests individual priorities are virtually unique: Implications for group dynamics, goal achievement and ecology

Eckart Bindewald

Ecological Modelling, 2017, vol. 362, issue C, 69-79

Abstract: Recently, a game-theoretic analysis highlighted the attractiveness of motivation asymmetry and anti-coordination as a strategy for groups to achieve multiple simultaneous goals. To test the prevalence of motivation asymmetry, a survey was performed that asked participants to divide resources among four different societal goals pertaining to economic growth, poverty reduction, health and environmental protection. It is shown, that the survey responses can be modelled by a Dirichlet distribution. It is argued, that the observed high diversity in priority combinations − while at first sight a problem − can be viewed as evidence for an “individual purpose game”, where there is a one-to-one mapping between group participants and the goals they are highly motivated to achieve. Based on these results, two strategies (the majority strategy and the heroic effort strategy) for achieving multiple simultaneous goals in a group are discussed. It is argued, that motivation asymmetry can − if understood in the light of game theory of voluntary efforts − lead to highly effective groups. Also, important implications for the field of ecology are dissussed.

Keywords: Dirichlet distribution; Resource allocation; Survey; Game theory; Trait variability; Emotional fingerprint; Animal temperament (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016304173
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:362:y:2017:i:c:p:69-79

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.08.012

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().