Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
Reacting differently to adverse ties promotes cooperation in social networks
S Van Segbroeck1, F C Santos, T Lenaerts
1COMO, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract:
We investigate how diversity in individual responses to unwanted interactions affects the evolution of cooperation modeled as a 2-person prisoner's dilemma. We combine adaptive networks and evolutionary game theory, showing analytically how the coevolution of social dynamics, network dynamics, and behavioral differences benefit the entire community even though myopic individuals still act in their own interest. As defectors are wiped out, surviving cooperators maintain the full diversity of behavioral types, establishing cooperation as a robust evolutionary strategy. The present framework can be used in other problems where the feedback between topology and dynamics affects the overall behavior of the system.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Relationship Formation
Social Exchange Theory
Social Exchange Theory
Factors Influencing Attraction IV: Reciprocity
Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect
Group Polarization

