Too smart for one's own good? Evolution favors individuals with a low-level theory of mind in a complex network

The Theory of Mind (ToM) is pivotal for social interaction, enabling individuals to predict others' minds and navigate in complex environments. However, the cognitive and energetic demands of ToM pose significant challenges, potentially leading to mental fatigue and impacting long-term mental well-being. This study utilizes agent-based modeling to investigate how cognitive complexity and the structures of social networks influence the survival and success of individuals from an evolutionary perspective. Agents simulated in the study encompass those with varying degrees of ToM: 0-ToM (fixed choice beliefs), 1-ToM (consideration of others' perspectives), 2-ToM (consideration of others' perspectives and their perceived perspectives), and 3-ToM (multiple layers of recursive thinking), each associated with different cognitive costs. Results from spatial networks, representing simple social structures (Experiment 1), suggest that agents with 3-ToM initially exhibit competitive dominance in social interaction, which shifts towards 2-ToM agents as cognitive costs increase. Conversely, in scale-free networks representing complex social structures (Experiment 2), 1-ToM agents emerge as thriving social hubs, highlighting the efficiency of simpler cognitive strategies in complex environments. The findings contribute to our understanding of the evolutionary pressures shaping social cognition and offer insights into optimizing cognitive strategies for social interaction and leadership in complex social landscapes.