Journal on Policy and Complex Systems - Fall 2015 , Volume 2 , Number 2
Thresholds of Behavioral Flexibility in Turbulent Environments for Individual and Group Success
Andrea Jones-Rooy
New York University . Contact andrea . jonesrooy @ nyu . edu . The author thanks Dejan Duzevik , Rick Riolo , Scott E . Page , Robert Axelrod , Ted Carmichael , Mirsad Hadzikadic , and two anonymous reviewers .
Abstract Adaptability is a central component of both individual and group success in a complex adaptive system , as well as a major part of policy design and implementation . Yet adaptability is often narrowly conceived and applied post hoc . In addition , we lack a general framework for understanding the circumstances under which it is desirable a priori . I propose behavioral flexibility as a useful conceptualization , operationalization , and measure of adaptability . I present an agent-based model that employs behavioral flexibility to evaluate the utility of adaptability to both individuals and groups in a turbulent environment . I find ( 1 ) there are thresholds of behavioral flexibility and environmental turbulence above and below which flexibility is undesirable at the individual level ; ( 2 ) individual flexibility can contribute to group outcomes of , surprisingly , increased inequality and lost diversity ; ( 3 ) very high levels of environmental turbulence can overshadow any benefit to flexibility , suggesting , counterintuitively , that the best strategy in a highly variable environment may be to stay constant ; and ( 4 ) if everyone in a system is flexible , the benefits of adaptability for any one agent decrease . A final contribution is I am able to generate disadvantages to flexibility without relying on explicit costs to change , as is done in much of the literature on adaptability .
In war as in life , it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed , to take up the best alternative open , and if so , it is folly not to work for it with all your might .
Sir Winston Churchill ( 1948 )
Never give in , never give in , never , never , never , never — in nothing , great or small , large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense .
Sir Winston Churchill ( 1941 )
109 doi : 10.18278 / jpcs . 2.2.7