 Dominance Orders in Animal Societies: The Self-Organization Hypothesis RevisitedEric Bonabeau, Guy Theraulaz and Jean-Louis Deneubourg Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute Abstract: In previous papers (Theraulaz et al. 1995, Bonabeau et al. 1996) we suggested, following Hogeweg and Hesper (1983, 1985), that the formation of dominance orders in animal societies could result from a self-organizing process involving a double reinforcement mechanism: winners reinforce their probability of winning and losers reinforce their probability of losing. This assumption, and subsequent models, were based on empirical data on primitively eusocial wasps (Polistes dominulus). By reanalyzing some of the experimental data that was previously thought to be irrelevant, we show that it is possible to distinguish this assumption from a competing assumption based on preexisting differences among individuals. We propose experiments to help discriminate between the two models---the self-organization model and the correlation model. We urge other researchers to be cautious when interpreting their dominance data with the "self-organization mindset": in particular, "winner and loser effects," which are often considered to give support to the self-organization assumption, are equally consistent with the correlation model.
To appear in Bull. Math. Biol., June 1999. Keywords: Dominance orders; animal societies; self-organization (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:99-01-007 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.