Evolution of emotions on networks leads to the evolution of cooperation in social dilemmas

Attila Szolnoki, Neng-Gang Xie, Ye Ye, and Matjaž Perc
Phys. Rev. E 87, 042805 – Published 4 April 2013

Abstract

We show that the resolution of social dilemmas in random graphs and scale-free networks is facilitated by imitating not the strategy of better-performing players but, rather, their emotions. We assume sympathy and envy to be the two emotions that determine the strategy of each player in any given interaction, and we define them as the probabilities of cooperating with players having a lower and a higher payoff, respectively. Starting with a population where all possible combinations of the two emotions are available, the evolutionary process leads to a spontaneous fixation to a single emotional profile that is eventually adopted by all players. However, this emotional profile depends not only on the payoffs but also on the heterogeneity of the interaction network. Homogeneous networks, such as lattices and regular random graphs, lead to fixations that are characterized by high sympathy and high envy, while heterogeneous networks lead to low or modest sympathy but also low envy. Our results thus suggest that public emotions and the propensity to cooperate at large depend, and are in fact determined by, the properties of the interaction network.

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  • Received 28 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.042805

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Attila Szolnoki1,*, Neng-Gang Xie2, Ye Ye2, and Matjaž Perc3

  • 1Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
  • 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan City 243002, China
  • 3Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia

  • *szolnoki.attila@ttk.mta.hu

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Vol. 87, Iss. 4 — April 2013

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