# Beyond Self-Interest: Modeling Social-Oriented Motivation for Human-like Multi-Agent Interactions

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.13890 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.13890/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Social simulation and multi-agent debate, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 16 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Mar 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Social simulation and multi-agent debate](https://mlsanity.com/agents/social-simulation-and-multi-agent-debate/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Qwen3 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.09388/) (2025)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Society](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17760/) (2023)
- [Using cognitive psychology to understand GPT-3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.14576/) (2022)
- [Agent Hospital: A Simulacrum of Hospital with Evolvable Medical Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.02957/) (2024)
- [Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning in Sequential Social Dilemmas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03037/) (2017)
- [EconAgent: Large Language Model-Empowered Agents for Simulating Macroeconomic Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10436/) (2023)
- [Exploring Large Language Model based Intelligent Agents: Definitions, Methods, and Prospects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03428/) (2024)
- [OASIS: Open Agent Social Interaction Simulations with One Million Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.11581/) (2024)
- [Simulating Classroom Education with LLM-Empowered Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19226/) (2024)
- [AgentScope: A Flexible yet Robust Multi-Agent Platform](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14034/) (2024)
- [Large Language Models as Urban Residents: An LLM Agent Framework for Personal Mobility Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14744/) (2024)
- [TwinMarket: A Scalable Behavioral and Social Simulation for Financial Markets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01506/) (2025)
- [Simulating Human-like Daily Activities with Desire-driven Autonomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.06435/) (2024)
- [CoMet: Metaphor-Driven Covert Communication for Multi-Agent Language Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18218/) (2025)
- [Why Are We Moral? An LLM-based Agent Simulation Approach to Study Moral Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.17703/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Generative Embodied Multiple Behavior Control Systems for Human-like Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.22691/) (2026)
- [Building Socio-Affective Artificial Intelligence for Interactive Multi-Agent Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.26927/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrate significant potential for generating complex behaviors, yet most approaches lack mechanisms for modeling social motivation in human-like multi-agent interaction. We introduce Autonomous Social Value-Oriented agents (ASVO), where LLM-based agents integrate desire-driven autonomy with Social Value Orientation (SVO) theory. At each step, agents first update their beliefs by perceiving environmental changes and others' actions. These observations inform the value update process, where each agent updates multi-dimensional desire values through reflective reasoning and infers others' motivational states. By contrasting self-satisfaction derived from fulfilled desires against estimated others' satisfaction, agents dynamically compute their SVO along a spectrum from altruistic to competitive, which in turn guides activity selection to balance desire fulfillment with social alignment. Experiments across School, Workplace, and Family contexts demonstrate substantial improvements over baselines in behavioral naturalness and human-likeness. These findings show that structured desire systems and adaptive SVO drift enable realistic multi-agent social simulations.