A NetLogo Model for the Study of the Evolution of Cooperation in Social Networks.pdfVIP

A NetLogo Model for the Study of the Evolution of Cooperation in Social Networks Gregory Todd Jones Georgia State University College of Law Interuniversity Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods gtjones@ Abstract Cooperation has played a key role in the evolution of various species, from single-celled organisms without any cognitive capacity whatsoever, to diverse species of birds and fish, from non-human primates such as chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys to humans, where the role of cooperation may have been most evolutionarily significant. Arriving at a coherent understanding of how cooperation can evolve in the face of self-regarding agents remains one of the most formidable challenges to those that study the management of conflict. At the same time, the study of network theory, complex systems, and nonlinear dynamics has pervaded all of science. Indeed, E. O. Wilson, who once characterized the evolution of cooperation as one of the greatest challenges for modern biology, more recently made a more emphatic appeal for research on complex systems. And yet, remarkably little work has been done that investigates the evolution of cooperation using network theory and the tools of complex systems analysis. Our work seeks to make contributions at the intersection of these two important areas of study. Contact: Gregory Todd Jones Interuniversity Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Georgia State University C