IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/apmaco/v508y2026ics0096300325003881.html

The evolution of social dilemma based on aspiration-based collective interdependence

Author

Listed:
  • Zhu, Qianlong
  • Wu, Qi
  • Chen, Wei
  • Tao, Jun

Abstract

Group interactions represent a critical class which can not be adequately explained through the mere aggregation of pairwise interactions. For instance, collective interdependence exemplifies how the functioning of interdependent groups across different systems emerges from their synergistic relationships. This study introduces an aspiration-based adaptive mechanism for collective interdependence to explore the evolution of cooperation. Collective interdependence is triggered when the total payoff of a group surpasses a predefined aspiration level. Our findings reveal that the global synergy factor inherent to collective interdependence significantly enhances cooperative behavior. However, the role of aspiration exhibits nuanced effects. It is found that an optimal aspiration level maximizes cooperation under conditions of high global synergy effects. Yet for low global synergy effects and local temptations, cooperation displays a bimodal distribution as aspiration increases, with the second peak surpassing the first in magnitude. Furthermore, for a proper aspiration, it is possible for cooperators to dominate one subpopulation and defectors to occupy the other one. Our work reveals the important influence of collective interdependence on the spreading of cooperators, and may provide a perspective to study human cooperation on interdependent systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhu, Qianlong & Wu, Qi & Chen, Wei & Tao, Jun, 2026. "The evolution of social dilemma based on aspiration-based collective interdependence," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 508(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:508:y:2026:i:c:s0096300325003881
    DOI: 10.1016/j.amc.2025.129662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0096300325003881
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.amc.2025.129662?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francisco C. Santos & Marta D. Santos & Jorge M. Pacheco, 2008. "Social diversity promotes the emergence of cooperation in public goods games," Nature, Nature, vol. 454(7201), pages 213-216, July.
    2. Chen, Wei & Yang, Zhihu & Wu, Te, 2021. "Evolution of cooperation driven by collective interdependence on multilayer networks," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    3. Benjamin Allen & Gabor Lippner & Yu-Ting Chen & Babak Fotouhi & Naghmeh Momeni & Shing-Tung Yau & Martin A. Nowak, 2017. "Evolutionary dynamics on any population structure," Nature, Nature, vol. 544(7649), pages 227-230, April.
    4. David F. Klosik & Anne Grimbs & Stefan Bornholdt & Marc-Thorsten Hütt, 2017. "The interdependent network of gene regulation and metabolism is robust where it needs to be," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-9, December.
    5. Sergey V. Buldyrev & Roni Parshani & Gerald Paul & H. Eugene Stanley & Shlomo Havlin, 2010. "Catastrophic cascade of failures in interdependent networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7291), pages 1025-1028, April.
    6. Hisashi Ohtsuki & Christoph Hauert & Erez Lieberman & Martin A. Nowak, 2006. "A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7092), pages 502-505, May.
    7. Zhi Li & Zhihu Yang & Te Wu & Long Wang, 2014. "Aspiration-Based Partner Switching Boosts Cooperation in Social Dilemmas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-7, June.
    8. Chen, Wei & Wu, Te & Li, Zhiwu & Wang, Long, 2017. "Randomly biased investments and the evolution of public goods on interdependent networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 479(C), pages 542-550.
    9. Jianlei Zhang & Chunyan Zhang & Tianguang Chu & Franz J Weissing, 2014. "Cooperation in Networks Where the Learning Environment Differs from the Interaction Environment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-8, March.
    10. Jorge M Pacheco & Flávio L Pinheiro & Francisco C Santos, 2009. "Population Structure Induces a Symmetry Breaking Favoring the Emergence of Cooperation," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(12), pages 1-7, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Wei & Yang, Zhihu & Wu, Te, 2021. "Evolution of cooperation driven by collective interdependence on multilayer networks," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    2. Chen, Wei & Wu, Te & Li, Zhiwu & Wang, Long, 2016. "Friendship-based partner switching promotes cooperation in heterogeneous populations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 443(C), pages 192-199.
    3. Zhang, Wei, 2024. "Network reciprocity and inequality: The role of additional mixing links among social groups," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Wang, Yiming & Gao, Shiping, 2026. "Evolution of cooperation on hypergraphs with heterogeneous update dynamics," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    6. Arnaud Z. Dragicevic, 2025. "The Price Identity of Replicator(–Mutator) Dynamics on Graphs with Quantum Strategies in a Public Goods Game," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 74-102, March.
    7. Chen, Wei & Zhu, Qianlong & Wu, Te, 2023. "Unfairness promotes the evolution of cooperation," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 438(C).
    8. Qi Su & Alexander J. Stewart, 2025. "Evolutionary dynamics of behavioral motivations for cooperation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Fabio Della Rossa & Fabio Dercole & Anna Di Meglio, 2020. "Direct Reciprocity and Model-Predictive Strategy Update Explain the Network Reciprocity Observed in Socioeconomic Networks," Games, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-28, March.
    10. Sarkar, Bijan, 2021. "The cooperation–defection evolution on social networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 584(C).
    11. Qi Su & Lei Zhou & Long Wang, 2019. "Evolutionary multiplayer games on graphs with edge diversity," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, April.
    12. Yu, Jianyong & Jiang, J.C. & Xiang, Leijun, 2017. "Group-based strategy diffusion in multiplex networks with weighted values," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 469(C), pages 148-156.
    13. Flávio L Pinheiro & Jorge M Pacheco & Francisco C Santos, 2012. "From Local to Global Dilemmas in Social Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(2), pages 1-6, February.
    14. Lv, Ran & Qian, Jia-Li & Hao, Qing-Yi & Wu, Chao-Yun & Guo, Ning & Ling, Xiang, 2024. "The impact of reputation-based heterogeneous evaluation and learning on cooperation in spatial public goods game," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    15. Han, Ju & Pi, Bin & Chen, Xiaojie & Szolnoki, Attila, 2025. "Public goods cooperation via group interaction with opponent selection," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 199(P3).
    16. Yongqiong Yuan & Jian Wang & Zhigang Wang & Haochun Yang & Tao Xu & Huang Huang, 2023. "Aspiration-driven co-evolution of cooperation with individual behavioral diversity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, September.
    17. Yang, Zhihu & Li, Zhi & Wang, Long, 2020. "Evolution of cooperation in a conformity-driven evolving dynamic social network," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 379(C).
    18. Wang, Jianwei & Xu, Wenshu & Chen, Wei & Yu, Fengyuan & He, Jialu, 2021. "Inter-group selection of strategy promotes cooperation in public goods game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 583(C).
    19. Alex McAvoy & Andrew Rao & Christoph Hauert, 2021. "Intriguing effects of selection intensity on the evolution of prosocial behaviors," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-21, November.
    20. Anne-Ly Do & Lars Rudolf & Thilo Gross, 2012. "Coordination, Differentiation and Fairness in a Population of Cooperating Agents," Games, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-11, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:508:y:2026:i:c:s0096300325003881. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-mathematics-and-computation .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.