Most autonomous agents are situated in a social context and need to interact with other agents (both human and artificial) to complete their problem solving objectives. Such agents are usually capable of performing a wide range of actions and engaging in a variety of social interactions. Faced with this variety of options, an agent must decide what to do. There are many potential decision making functions which could be employed to make the choice. Each such function will have a different effect on the success of the individual agent and of the overall system in which it is situated. Therefore, this paper examines agents’ decision making functions to ascertain their likely properties and attributes. A framework for characterising social decision making is presented and a socially responsible decision making principle is proposed which enables both the agent and the overall system to perform well. This principle is illustrated, and empirically evaluated, in a multi-agent system for unloading lorries at a warehouse.