Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network
Social networks - diagrams which reflect the social structure of animal groups - are increasingly viewed as useful tools in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology. Network structure may be especially relevent to the study of cooperation, because the action of mechanisms which affect the cost:b...
| Những tác giả chính: | , , |
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| Định dạng: | Journal article |
| Ngôn ngữ: | English |
| Được phát hành: |
Public Library of Science
2011
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| Những chủ đề: |
| _version_ | 1826266654467686400 |
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| author | Harrison, F Sciberras, J James, R |
| author_facet | Harrison, F Sciberras, J James, R |
| author_sort | Harrison, F |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Social networks - diagrams which reflect the social structure of animal groups - are increasingly viewed as useful tools in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology. Network structure may be especially relevent to the study of cooperation, because the action of mechanisms which affect the cost:benefit ratio of cooperating (e.g. reciprocity, punishment, image scoring) is likely to be mediated by the relative position of actor and recipient in the network. Social proximity could thus affect cooperation in a similar manner to biological relatedness. To test this hypothesis, we recruited members of a real-world social group and used a questionnaire to reveal their network. Participants were asked to endure physical discomfort in order to earn money for themselves and other group members, allowing us to explore relationships between willingness to suffer a cost on another's behalf and the relative social tie between donor and recipient. Cost endured was positively correlated with the strength of the social tie between donor and recipient. Further, donors suffered greater costs when a relationship was reciprocated. Interestingly, participants regularly suffered greater discomfort for very close peers than for themselves. Our results provide new insight into the effect of social structure on the direct benefits of cooperation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:42:13Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:34a98f0d-4dc2-4d3e-979b-61a7ca3c2f8f |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T20:42:13Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:34a98f0d-4dc2-4d3e-979b-61a7ca3c2f8f2022-03-26T13:27:20ZStrength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social networkJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:34a98f0d-4dc2-4d3e-979b-61a7ca3c2f8fBiologyZoological sciencesEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetPublic Library of Science2011Harrison, FSciberras, JJames, RSocial networks - diagrams which reflect the social structure of animal groups - are increasingly viewed as useful tools in behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology. Network structure may be especially relevent to the study of cooperation, because the action of mechanisms which affect the cost:benefit ratio of cooperating (e.g. reciprocity, punishment, image scoring) is likely to be mediated by the relative position of actor and recipient in the network. Social proximity could thus affect cooperation in a similar manner to biological relatedness. To test this hypothesis, we recruited members of a real-world social group and used a questionnaire to reveal their network. Participants were asked to endure physical discomfort in order to earn money for themselves and other group members, allowing us to explore relationships between willingness to suffer a cost on another's behalf and the relative social tie between donor and recipient. Cost endured was positively correlated with the strength of the social tie between donor and recipient. Further, donors suffered greater costs when a relationship was reciprocated. Interestingly, participants regularly suffered greater discomfort for very close peers than for themselves. Our results provide new insight into the effect of social structure on the direct benefits of cooperation. |
| spellingShingle | Biology Zoological sciences Harrison, F Sciberras, J James, R Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title | Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title_full | Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title_fullStr | Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title_short | Strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| title_sort | strength of social tie predicts cooperative investment in a human social network |
| topic | Biology Zoological sciences |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT harrisonf strengthofsocialtiepredictscooperativeinvestmentinahumansocialnetwork AT sciberrasj strengthofsocialtiepredictscooperativeinvestmentinahumansocialnetwork AT jamesr strengthofsocialtiepredictscooperativeinvestmentinahumansocialnetwork |