Altruism in networks: the effect of connections
Why are individuals altruistic to their friends? Theory suggests that individual, relationship and network factors will all influence the levels of altruism; but to date, the effects of social network structure have received relatively little attention. The present study uses a novel correlational d...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Royal Society Publishing
2011
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1797069467055816704 |
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| author | Curry, O Dunbar, R |
| author_facet | Curry, O Dunbar, R |
| author_sort | Curry, O |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Why are individuals altruistic to their friends? Theory suggests that individual, relationship and network factors will all influence the levels of altruism; but to date, the effects of social network structure have received relatively little attention. The present study uses a novel correlational design to test the prediction that an individual will be more altruistic to friends who are well-connected to the individual's other friends. The result shows that, as predicted, even when controlling for a range of individual and relationship factors, the network factor (number of connections) makes a significant contribution to altruism, thus showing that individuals are more likely to be altruistic to better-connected members of their social networks. The implications of incorporating network structure into studies of altruism are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:24:53Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:5655870d-79b9-49cf-86e7-bd7b31f0fa87 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:24:53Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Royal Society Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:5655870d-79b9-49cf-86e7-bd7b31f0fa872022-03-26T16:49:41ZAltruism in networks: the effect of connectionsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5655870d-79b9-49cf-86e7-bd7b31f0fa87AnthropologyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetRoyal Society Publishing2011Curry, ODunbar, RWhy are individuals altruistic to their friends? Theory suggests that individual, relationship and network factors will all influence the levels of altruism; but to date, the effects of social network structure have received relatively little attention. The present study uses a novel correlational design to test the prediction that an individual will be more altruistic to friends who are well-connected to the individual's other friends. The result shows that, as predicted, even when controlling for a range of individual and relationship factors, the network factor (number of connections) makes a significant contribution to altruism, thus showing that individuals are more likely to be altruistic to better-connected members of their social networks. The implications of incorporating network structure into studies of altruism are discussed. |
| spellingShingle | Anthropology Curry, O Dunbar, R Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title | Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title_full | Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title_fullStr | Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title_full_unstemmed | Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title_short | Altruism in networks: the effect of connections |
| title_sort | altruism in networks the effect of connections |
| topic | Anthropology |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT curryo altruisminnetworkstheeffectofconnections AT dunbarr altruisminnetworkstheeffectofconnections |