Effective utility-driven spatial segregation and its impact on cooperation evolution: A cultural weight-dependent perspective

How cooperation evolves in culturally diverse populations remains a fundamental question. Individual differences in concern for others’ welfare can shape social interactions, yet their role in driving large-scale social patterns is not fully understood. Here, we propose a spatial evolutionary game model where individuals possess an evolvable ”cultural weight” that dictates how they value their own versus their neighbors’ payoffs. We demonstrate that this utility-evaluation mechanism spontaneously drives significant spatial segregation, where like-minded individuals cluster together. This self-organized structure, in turn, powerfully influences cooperation through a ”boundary effect”: individuals at the interfaces of different cultural clusters exhibit significantly lower cooperation rates than those in homogeneous group interiors. Our findings reveal that subjective utility evaluation based on cultural differences is a key driver of social pattern formation, highlighting a complex feedback loop between individual culture, spatial structure, and the evolution of cooperation.