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Social exclusion in finite populations
1Center for Systems and Control, State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Summary
Social exclusion, by preventing free riders from sharing benefits, sustains cooperation. Peer exclusion is better with low costs, while pool exclusion excels with high costs, aiding cooperative group survival.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Game Theory
- Social Behavior Dynamics
Background:
- Social exclusion is crucial for maintaining cooperation by excluding free riders.
- Understanding the evolution of exclusion mechanisms is vital for cooperation in finite populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolution of social exclusion using two distinct regimes: peer exclusion and pool exclusion.
- To compare the effectiveness of peer versus pool exclusion in sustaining cooperation under varying costs and conditions.
Main Methods:
- Simulated a public goods game with excluders and defectors in finite populations.
- Analyzed two exclusion regimes: peer exclusion (individual cost) and pool exclusion (shared cost).
- Examined the impact of exclusion costs, selection intensities, and update rules on cooperation.
Main Results:
- Peer excluders outperform pool excluders when exclusion costs are low; the reverse occurs when costs are high.
- Exclusion mechanisms can lead to the dominance of excluders, even with second-order free riders.
- Group exclusion enhances cooperative group survival under adverse conditions, outperforming costly punishment.
Conclusions:
- The effectiveness of peer versus pool exclusion depends critically on the associated costs.
- Social exclusion, particularly group exclusion, offers significant advantages for sustaining cooperation.
- Findings provide insights into the real-world prevalence and significance of exclusion strategies in promoting cooperation.
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