4 - (OP28) Temporal and Social Discounting as Predictors of Scrounging Strategies in Social Foraging

In social foraging situations, individuals tend to adopt one of two mutually exclusive strategies: (a) actively searching for resources (producing), or (b) exploiting resources previously discovered by another group member (parasitizing). The Rate Maximization Model (RMM) predicts that, as the discovery advantage decreases, the proportion of producers will decline due to a reduced difference between producer and parasite consumption. In contrast, the hyperbolic discounting function, widely used in delay discounting paradigms, proposes that the subjective value of an alternative decreases as the delay to its consequences increases.

The present study aimed to compare the predictive accuracy of the Rate Maximization Model and the hyperbolic discounting model in a simulated social foraging context, as well as to examine the relationship between foraging strategy and individual discounting rates (temporal, effort, and social). Forty-eight participants interacted in a multiplayer 3D videogame designed to simulate a social foraging environment. To manipulate the cost of the producing response, five delays to resource release were implemented (0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 seconds). Delay, effort, and social discounting tasks were administered using an adjusting-amount procedure.

Results indicated that the Rate Maximization Model provided a better overall fit to group-level behavior than the hyperbolic model. However, positive correlations were observed between temporal and social discounting rates and preference for parasitic strategies. These findings suggest that while rate maximization better captures aggregate strategy shifts, hyperbolic discounting functions remain useful for describing individual differences in strategy selection.

The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the characterization of non-prosocial behaviors, such as exploitation and resource appropriation, and the utility of combining social foraging paradigms with discounting tasks to study decision-making in social contexts.