argument-based negotiation in a social context
Autonomous agents usually operate as a multi-agent community performing actions within a shared social context to achieve their individual and collective objectives. In such a social context, their actions are influenced via two broad forms of motivations. First, the internal influences reflect the intrinsic motivations that drive the individual agent to achieve its own internal objectives. Second, as agents reside and operate within a social community, the social context itself influences their actions. Here, we categorise these latter forms as social influences. Now, in many cases, both these forms of influence may be present and they may give conflicting motivations to the individual agent. For instance, an agent may be internally motivated to perform a specific action, whereas, at the same time, it may also be subject to an external social influence not to perform it. Furthermore, agents usually have to perform their actions in environments with incomplete information. Thus, for instance, they may not be aware of the existence of all the social influences that could or indeed should affect their actions.
conflict resolution argumentation-based negotiation