Deception as a Means for Power among Collaborative Agents

We have developed a method for measuring the social power that agents exercise upon one another due to the influence of communicated messages. Our social power is a measure of the damage that a communication inflicts upon another agent due to the agent's revision of beliefs and plans due to the received message. This measure of power was used in several experiments involving deceptive agents, as deception is used to gain power over others. Our results illustrate the effects of deceptive communication on agent decision making and ultimately agent performance.