A Framework for Human Behavior

United We Stand

For united we stand. Divided we fall

And if our backs should ever be against the wall

We'll be together, Together, you and I

Man is a social animal. What does this mean for understanding our behavior?

Man is a social animal.  When Darwin wrote “On the Origin of Species” it gave rise to the “Survival of the Fittest” as a phase, but Darwin was applying it to species in the plural, even if it has been often applied to the behavior of individuals.  How humans approach winning is only one dimension of understanding behavior.  In many disciplines two dimensions are used to understand behavior: time and distance; exclusive and rival; likelihood and consequence, etc.  I would propose that two dimensions are useful in classifying human behavior.  The first dimension is how they define winning, optimization; and the second dimension is how they approach others, inclusion.

Games Theory proposes two basic approaches to winning: User Optimization and System Optimization.  I would propose that when applied to human behavior this is not a binary either/or choice but instead is a continuum, spectrum. 

Humans are wary of others.  That definition of others can also be inclusive or exclusive, but also as a continuum, not as an either/or choice.

The proposed framework of two dimension is:

Optimization can be a spectrum depending on the degree of shadow prices (e.g. customs, rules, regulations, laws) that are willing to be accepted.  Libertarians could be classified as favoring extreme user optimal solutions, while socialists would favor extreme system optimal solutions.  Shadow prices must be imposed and collected by society, i.e. government.  People who believe in small government, like Republicans tend to favor system optimal solutions, but limited government. Democrats also favor system optimal solutions favor, but they favor larger government.

While Socialists favor System Optimal solutions, there is a difference between Marxists and Nazis ( whose very name is a shortening of the German for National Socialism). That  dimension is the view of others included in those system solutions.  Marxists favor a very broad inclusive view, while Nazis and other nationalists favor a narrower definition of those included in the system being optimized. This inclusion can be on a continuum from individuals, families, ethnicity, language, religions, race, etc.

A distinction is made between “Do As I Say” versus “Do As I Do”.  Humans may adopt a public System Optimal solution in theory for others, but a private User Optimal solution for themselves.  E.g. Nazis in public as opposed to Nazi officials in practice.  However, nature has stood firmly on the side of System Optimal solutions, Species, rather than User Optimal solutions, individual organisms. 

While it is convenient to define human behavior in two dimensions, it is not extreme behavior in these dimensions  Humans are a balance of both social and xenophobic.  Moderation in these opposing tendencies may be the preferred behavior.