Conditional game theory as a model for coordinated decision making

Standard game theory is founded on the premise that choices in interactive decision situations are strategically rational--best reactions to the expected actions of others. However, when studying groups whose members are responsive to one another's interests, a relevant notion of behavior is for them to coordinate in the pursuit of coherent group behavior. Conditional game theory provides a framework that facilitates the study of coordinated rational behavior of human social networks and the synthesis of artificial social influence networks. This framework comprises three elements: a socialization model to characterize the way individual preferences are defined in a social context; a diffusion model to define the way individual preferences propagate through the network to create an emergent social structure; and a deduction model that establishes the structure of coordinated individual choices.