Evolution of intrinsic motives in a multi-player common pool resource game

This paper proposes a game theoretic framework to model the evolution of individuals with different motives. First, the altered perception of individuals with different motives is modeled assuming they are engaged in a common pool resource game. It is shown that agents with different motives perceive the payoff matrix of the game differently. An evolutionary process is then simulated using replicator dynamics and mutation rules to study the evolution of agents with different motives. Results demonstrate that the average objective payoff achieved by a population of agents is higher in the presence of agents with different motives, even though some of these agents may misperceive the original game. These results illustrate the evolutionary benefit of motivation and provide evidence in support of further study of subjective rationality as a result of motivation in game theoretic settings.