Conceptualizing Social Power for Agents

One of the most pervasive concepts in human interactions is social power since many social situations entail disputes of social power. These disputes are power games and range from simple personal reasoning to the exercise of specific power strategies, which enhance or assert one’s power. Recognizing the importance of such interactions and how they can enhance autonomous agents’ socially intelligent behaviors, we present a formalization of the fundamental bases of power and conceptualize the diverse forces that should underlie an agent’s deliberative decision process. Different bases of power stem from diverse factors and have particular dynamics and effects. The objective of this work is to establish a theoretical basis for social intelligent agents capable of both being aware of and manipulating social power.