A sociocognitive-Neuroeconomic Model of social information communication: to speak directly or to gossip

1. a model of social communication, enabling the characterization of specific conditions under which social information will be spread: for example, when an agent should directly communicate with the target of the information, gossip it to others, or simply do nothing.

2. key words: decision making; theory of mind; social neuroscience; multi-agent system; artificial social intelligence

3. To make accurate predictions about others requires having a model of their minds- their beliefs, goals, and intentions--and humans have evolved the ability to do so.]

4. Proper long-term social interaction also requires mental accounting of what you owe to others (from their help) and what others owe to you (from your help or their hindrance).

5. Rich descriptions of all possible agents become computationally intractable, so our mental models are also necessarily limited--to maintain more comprehensive models of those closest to us.

6. Gathering information about others is crucial to maintain accurate models of them. Communication is a critical means by which agents share and update information about each other.

7. Social exchange theory