Static network structure can stabilize human cooperation

Static network structure can stabilize human cooperation.

The evolution of cooperation in network-structured populations has been a major focus of theoretical work in recent years. When players are embedded in fixed networks, cooperators are more likely to interact with, and benefit from, other cooperators. In theory, this clustering can foster cooperation on fixed networks under certain circumstances. Laboratory experiments with humans, however, have...

Supporting Information for Static network structure can stabilize human cooperation

Cheating can stabilize cooperation in mutualisms.

Mutualisms present a challenge for evolutionary theory. How is cooperation maintained in the face of selection for selfishness and cheating? Both theory and data suggest that partner choice, where one species preferentially directs aid to the more cooperative members of the other species, is central to cooperation in many mutualisms. However, the theory has only so far considered the evolutiona...

Conditional cooperation can hinder network reciprocity.

S ocial networks are ubiquitous in our internet-dominated culture, and the new virtual social networks have a lot in common with traditional social networks (e.g., friends and colleagues). In all cases, it is important who interacts with whom. Lately, there has been much theoretical and empirical work on how the behavior of individuals can be influenced by their social ties and how ties are dis...

Competition between species can stabilize public-goods cooperation within a species

Competition between species is a major ecological force that can drive evolution. Here, we test the effect of this force on the evolution of cooperation within a species. We use sucrose metabolism of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model cooperative system that is subject to social parasitism by cheater strategies. We find that when cocultured with a bacterial competitor, Escheric...