Stability in biological systems requires evolved mechanisms that promote robustness. Cohesive primate social groups represent one example of a stable biological system, which persist in spite of frequent conflict. Multiple sources of stability likely exist for any biological system and such robustness, or lack thereof, should be reflected and thus detectable in the group's network structure, an...

Interaction conditions can change the balance of cooperation and conflict in multicellular groups. After aggregating together, cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum may migrate as a group (known as a slug) to a new location. We consider this migration stage as an arena for social competition and conflict because the cells in the slug may not be from a genetically homogeneous popul...

• We examined the consequences of egocentrism in negotiations. • In mock negotiations, we independently manipulated each party's issue priorities. • After negotiating, parties judged the other party's interests. • Perceptions were more related to own interests than other party's actual interests. • Parties overestimated/underestimated the other parties' interests based on their own. a b s t r a...

Two types of models aim to account the origins of rank differentiation and social hierarchy in human societies. Conflict models suggest that the formation of social hierarchies is synonymous with the establishment of relationships of coercive social dominance and exploitation. Voluntary or 'integrative' models, on the other hand, suggest that rank differentiation--the differentiation of leader ...

The Simon effect refers to an incompatibility between stimulus and response locations resulting in a conflict situation and, consequently, slower responses. Like other conflict effects, it is commonly reduced after repetitions, suggesting an executive control ability, which flexibly rewires cognitive processing and adapts to conflict. Interestingly, conflict is not necessarily individually defi...

Despite the gradual increase of research on social conflicts, psychometric characteristics of social-conflict scales have not been extensively examined, especially in the adolescent population. In this study, the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion-related validity of 2 established social-conflict scales were examined in a sample of 581 Chinese adolescents. There were h...