Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Does Social Welfare Preference Always Promote Cooperation on Barabási and Albert Networks?

An Agent-Based Approach

  • Published:
Computational Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Existing models of evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game always assume that agents are self-interest only. But more and more evidences show that agents may have other-regarding preference. The present article extents the model of prisoner’s dilemma on Barabási and Albert networks to include heterogeneous social welfare preference agents and studies its effects on the cooperation emergence on networks. The simulation results show that social welfare preference may promote cooperation in many cases, especially in the situation where the defection attraction is high. However, there are some situations where social welfare preference does not favor cooperation on complex networks. Simulations also display that it is not always true that the higher weight on social welfare preference corresponds with the higher cooperation frequency. Neighborhood size and initial cooperation also have important effects on the cooperation frequency as well, the features which are not observed in the situations without social welfare preference agents. These results are all related to the locality of social welfare preference. This article reveals the complex relationship between social preference and cooperation frequency in complex networks, which may help researchers reconsider the role of pro-social preference in the evolution of cooperation on complex networks.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abramson G., Kuperman M. (2001) Social games in a social network. Physical Review E 63(3): 030901

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreoni J., Miller J. (2002) Giving according to GARP: An experimental test of the consistency of preferences for altruism. Econometrica 70(2): 737–753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Attila Szolnoki M. P. (2009) Promoting cooperation in social dilemmas via simple coevolutionary rules. European Physical Journal B 67: 337–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R. (1985) The evolution of cooperation. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R. (1997) The complexity of cooperation. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R., Hamilton W. D. (1981) The evolution of cooperation. Science 211(4489): 1390–1396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barabási A. L., Albert R. (1999) Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science 286: 509–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolton G. E., Ockenfels A. (2000) A theory of equity, reciprocity, and competition. American Ecomomic Review 90(1): 166–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charness G., Rabin M. (2002) Understanding social preferences with simple tests. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(3): 817–869

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen X., Fu F., Wang L. (2008a) Influence of initial distributions on robust cooperation in evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma. Physics Letters A 372(8): 1161–1167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen X., Fu F., Wang L. (2008b) Interaction stochasticity supports cooperation in spatial prisoner’s dilemma. Physical Review E 78(5): 051120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falk A., Fischbacher U. (2006) A theory of reciprocity. Games and Economic Behavior 54(2): 293–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fehr E., Schmidt K. M. (1999) A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. Quarterly Journal of Economics 114(3): 817–868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu F., Chena X., Liu L., Wang L. (2007a) Promotion of cooperation induced by the interplay between structure and game dynamics. Physica A 383(2): 651–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu F., Liu L., Long W. (2007b) Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma on heterogeneous Newman–Watts small-world network. The European Physical Journal B 56(4): 367–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu F., Wu T., Wang L. (2009) Partner switching stabilizes cooperation in coevolutionary prisoner’s dilemma. Physical Review E 79: 036101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y. J., Wang B. H., Yang H. X., Ling X., Chen X. J., Jiang R. (2009) Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game based on pursuing higher average payoff. Chinese Physics Letter 26(1): 01871

    Google Scholar 

  • Moyano, L. G., & Sanchez, A. (2008). Spatial prisoner’s dilemma with heterogeneous agents: Cooperation, learning and co-evolution. http://arxiv4.library.cornell.edu/abs/0805.2071v1, May, 2008.

  • Nowak M. A., Bonhoeffer S., May R. M. (1994) Spatial games and the maintenance of cooperation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 91(11): 4877–4881

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak M. A., May R. M. (1992) Evolutionary games and spatial chaos. Nature 359: 826–829

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak M. A., May R. M. (1993) The spatial dilemmas of evolution. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos 3(1): 35–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennisi E. (2005) How did cooperative behavior evolve?.  Science 309(5731): 93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rabin M. (1993) Incorporating fairness into game theory and economics. American Ecomomic Review 86(5): 1281–1302

    Google Scholar 

  • Riolo R. L., Cohen M. D., Axelrod R. (2001) Evolution of cooperation without reciprocity. Nature 414: 441–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos F. C., Pacheco J. M. (2005) Scale-free networks provide a unifying framework for the emergence of cooperation. Physical Review Letters 95(9): 098104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos F. C., Pacheco J. M. (2006) A new route to the evolution of cooperation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19(3): 726–733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos F. C., Pacheco J. M., Lenaerts T. (2006a) Evolutionary dynamics of social dilemmas in structured heterogeneous populations. PNAS 103(9): 3490–3494

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos F. C., Rodrigues J. F., Pacheco J. M. (2006b) Graph topology plays a determinant role in the evolution of cooperation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273(1582): 51–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó G., Antal T., Szabo P., Droz M. (2000) Spatial evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game with three strategies and external constraints. Physical Review E 62(1): 1095–1103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabo G., Fath G. (2007) Evolutionary games on graphs. Physics Reports 446(4–6): 97–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó G., Hauert C. (2002) Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma games with optional participation. Physical Review E 66(6): 062903

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó G., Toke C. (1998) Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game on a square lattice. Physical Review E 58(1): 68–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó G., Vukov J., Szolnoki A. (2005) Phase diagrams for prisoner’s dilemma game on two-dimensional lattices. Physical Review E 72(4): 047107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vukov J., Szabó G., Szolnoki A. (2008) Evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game on the Newman–Watts networks. Physical Review E 77(2): 026109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Z. X., Xu X. J., Chen Y., Wang Y. H. (2005) Spatial prisoner’s dilemma game with volunteering in Newman–Watts small-world networks. Physical Review E (Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics) 71(3): 037103

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Bo Xianyu

  2. Institute of Logic and Cognition, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Bo Xianyu

  3. Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Ping Chen

Authors
  1. Bo Xianyu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ping Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bo Xianyu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xianyu, B., Chen, P. Does Social Welfare Preference Always Promote Cooperation on Barabási and Albert Networks?. Comput Econ 37, 249–266 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-010-9246-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-010-9246-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation