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Mesoscopic Structure Conditions the Emergence of Cooperation on Social Networks

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  • Sergi Lozano
  • Alex Arenas
  • Angel Sánchez

Abstract

Background: We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. Methodology/Principal Findings: We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement with the observations in both real substrates. Conclusion: Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergi Lozano & Alex Arenas & Angel Sánchez, 2008. "Mesoscopic Structure Conditions the Emergence of Cooperation on Social Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(4), pages 1-9, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0001892
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001892
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    1. Yongkui Liu & Xiaojie Chen & Lin Zhang & Long Wang & Matjaž Perc, 2012. "Win-Stay-Lose-Learn Promotes Cooperation in the Spatial Prisoner's Dilemma Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(2), pages 1-8, February.
    2. Zhang, Jianlei & Zhang, Chunyan & Chu, Tianguang, 2011. "The evolution of cooperation in spatial groups," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 131-136.
    3. Jorge Peña & Yannick Rochat, 2012. "Bipartite Graphs as Models of Population Structures in Evolutionary Multiplayer Games," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-13, September.
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    5. Julia Poncela & Jesús Gómez-Gardeñes & Luis M Floría & Angel Sánchez & Yamir Moreno, 2008. "Complex Cooperative Networks from Evolutionary Preferential Attachment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(6), pages 1-6, June.
    6. Pan, Qiuhui & Shi, Shu & Zhang, Yu & He, Mingfeng, 2013. "Cooperation in spatial prisoner’s dilemma game with delayed decisions," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 166-174.
    7. Sitabhra Sinha, 2014. "The Importance of Community," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 2(1), pages 49-61, June.
    8. Isabel Cristina Panziera Marques & Mário Franco, 2020. "Cooperation networks in the area of health: systematic literature review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1727-1750, March.
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    11. Duh, Maja & Gosak, Marko & Perc, Matjaž, 2021. "Public goods games on random hyperbolic graphs with mixing," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Lambiotte, R. & Panzarasa, P., 2009. "Communities, knowledge creation, and information diffusion," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 180-190.
    13. Zhang, Lan & Huang, Changwei, 2023. "Preferential selection to promote cooperation on degree–degree correlation networks in spatial snowdrift games," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 454(C).
    14. Carlos P Roca & Sergi Lozano & Alex Arenas & Angel Sánchez, 2010. "Topological Traps Control Flow on Real Networks: The Case of Coordination Failures," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(12), pages 1-9, December.
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