LLM代理在社会模拟中展现利他行为,揭示不同模型的内在社会倾向差异。
The Emergence of Altruism in Large-Language-Model Agents Society
- 构建城市迁徙社会困境模型,让200+ LLM代理在自利与利他间抉择。
- 发现两类代理:适应性利己者和内在利他优化者,行为逻辑截然不同。
- 提出基于扎根理论的推理编码方法,解析代理决策的认知机制。
将大语言模型(LLMs)用于社会模拟是计算社会科学的前沿领域。理解这些代理所体现的社会逻辑至关重要。然而,现有研究多聚焦于小规模任务导向游戏中的合作,忽视了利他主义——即为集体利益牺牲自身利益——在大规模代理社会中的涌现。为此,我们引入一种类谢尔灵的城市迁徙模型,创造社会困境,迫使超过200个LLM代理在个人效用(自利)与系统效用(利他)之间做出明确权衡。核心发现是LLMs存在根本性的社会倾向差异:两类典型代理分别为“适应性利己者”(默认优先自利,但在社交规范留言板影响下利他行为显著提升)和“利他优化者”(具有内在利他逻辑,即使直接损害自身仍持续优先集体利益)。此外,为定性分析决策认知基础,我们提出一种受扎根理论启发的系统化推理编码方法。本研究首次提供证据表明,不同LLMs在利己与利他倾向上存在内在异质性。我们认为,在社会模拟中,模型选择不仅是推理能力问题,更是内在社会行动逻辑的选择。‘适应性利己者’更适合模拟复杂人类社会,而‘利他优化者’更适用于建模理想化亲社会角色或以集体福祉为核心的场景。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for social simulation is a frontier in computational social science. Understanding the social logics these agents embody is critical to this attempt. However, existing research has primarily focused on cooperation in small-scale, task-oriented games, overlooking how altruism, which means sacrificing self-interest for collective benefit, emerges in large-scale agent societies. To address this gap, we introduce a Schelling-variant urban migration model that creates a social dilemma, compelling over 200 LLM agents to navigate an explicit conflict between egoistic (personal utility) and altruistic (system utility) goals. Our central finding is a fundamental difference in the social tendencies of LLMs. We identify two distinct archetypes: "Adaptive Egoists", which default to prioritizing self-interest but whose altruistic behaviors significantly increase under the influence of a social norm-setting message board; and "Altruistic Optimizers", which exhibit an inherent altruistic logic, consistently prioritizing collective benefit even at a direct cost to themselves. Furthermore, to qualitatively analyze the cognitive underpinnings of these decisions, we introduce a method inspired by Grounded Theory to systematically code agent reasoning. In summary, this research provides the first evidence of intrinsic heterogeneity in the egoistic and altruistic tendencies of different LLMs. We propose that for social simulation, model selection is not merely a matter of choosing reasoning capability, but of choosing an intrinsic social action logic. While "Adaptive Egoists" may offer a more suitable choice for simulating complex human societies, "Altruistic Optimizers" are better suited for modeling idealized pro-social actors or scenarios where collective welfare is the primary consideration.
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