Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
Graph topology plays a determinant role in the evolution of cooperation
F C Santos1, J F Rodrigues, J M Pacheco
1IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, Belgium.
Abstract:
We study the evolution of cooperation in communities described in terms of graphs, such that individuals occupy the vertices and engage in single rounds of the Prisoner's Dilemma with those individuals with whom they are connected through the edges of those graphs. We find an overwhelming dominance of cooperation whenever graphs are dynamically generated through the mechanisms of growth and preferential attachment. These mechanisms lead to the appearance of direct links between hubs, which constitute sufficient conditions to sustain cooperation. We show that cooperation dominates from large population sizes down to communities with nearly 100 individuals, even when extrinsic factors set a limit on the number of interactions that each individual may engage in.
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Interactions: Cooperation
Coordination Number and Geometry
Impact of Groups on Groups
Evolutionary Processes in Microbes
Relationship Formation
Cooperative Allosteric Transitions
