Conspicuous consumption

About

Conspicuous consumption refers to the act of acquiring and displaying goods or behaviors primarily to signal social status, wealth, or dominance to others, rather than for purely functional utility. Originally coined by economist Thorstein Veblen, the concept describes how individuals use visible, often costly signals to communicate their position within a social hierarchy. In robotics and AI research, this principle appears as an analog to costly signaling theory, where agents or animals expend resources on observable behaviors that advertise fitness or capability. Robotic modeling has been used to study how biological organisms balance the benefits of producing conspicuous signals — attracting mates or deterring rivals — against the risks of also attracting predators. Robotic prey experiments, for example, allow researchers to test signal detectability under controlled conditions in natural environments. Understanding conspicuous signaling matters for designing multi-agent robotic systems, where robots must communicate intent or capability to peers or humans efficiently while minimizing unintended vulnerabilities or resource waste.