Ohio State University, School of Communication, Columbus, OH, USA.
Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 14;9(1):2061. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-38323-7.
Theoretical models and experiments suggest that social networks may significantly impact the emergence and stability of cooperation in humans. Similarly, theoretical models and experiments have shown that punishing behavior can significantly increase cooperative behavior in individuals. However, how punishing impacts the effects of social networks on cooperation is not yet understood. Here, I examine a set of laboratory experiments in which participants choose to cooperate or defect under differing punishment arrangements. Through analysis of the experiment as a network, I evaluate how institutional arrangements affect the degree to which social networks promote cooperative behavior. The results show that cooperative behavior spreads from person-to-person in all versions of the game, but that in versions of the game with low-cost, high-impact punishment the influence both endures for more rounds and spreads further in the network. These results show that the extent to which cooperative behavior cascades is affected by the institutional arrangements that govern game play.
理论模型和实验表明，社交网络可能会显著影响人类合作的出现和稳定。同样，理论模型和实验表明，惩罚行为可以显著增加个体的合作行为。然而，惩罚如何影响社交网络对合作的影响尚不清楚。在这里，我研究了一组实验室实验，其中参与者在不同的惩罚安排下选择合作或背叛。通过将实验作为一个网络进行分析，我评估了制度安排如何影响社交网络促进合作行为的程度。结果表明，合作行为在所有版本的游戏中都在人与人之间传播，但在低成本、高影响惩罚的游戏版本中，这种影响在更多轮次中持续存在，并在网络中传播得更远。这些结果表明，合作行为的级联程度受到管理游戏玩法的制度安排的影响。
