Playing the long game: rational agents sacrifice immediate rewards to retain access to collective wisdom

Living in groups offers social animals the significant advantage of accessing collective wisdom and enhanced information processing, thereby enabling more accurate decisions related to foraging, navigation, and habitat selection. The preservation of group membership is crucial for sustaining access to this collective wisdom, thereby incentivising animals to prioritize group cohesion. However, when individuals encounter divergent information about the quality of various options, their choices can influence their ability to remain within their current social groups. This introduces a potential conflict between the pursuit of immediate rewards and the maintenance of group membership. This study delves into the implications of this conflict on rational decision-making within group contexts, focusing on the influence of varying time horizons on the emergence of optimal behaviors and further investigating the subsequent effects on both individual and collective decision accuracy within the group context. The results demonstrate that observed patterns of sociality should be interpreted in the context of the life history of an individual and its peers, rather than through the lens of an isolated decision. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.