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Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Human social preferences cluster and spread in the field
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Alexander Ehlert
  • Martin Kindschi
  • René Algesheimer
  • Heiko Rauhut
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher National Academy of Sciences
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0027-8424
Volume 117
Number 37
Page Range 22787 - 22792
Date 2020
Abstract Text While it is undeniable that the ability of humans to cooperate in large-scale societies is unique in animal life, it remains open how such a degree of prosociality is possible despite the risks of exploitation. Recent evidence suggests that social networks play a crucial role in the development of prosociality and large-scale cooperation by allowing cooperators to cluster; however, it is not well understood if and how this also applies to real-world social networks in the field. We study intrinsic social preferences alongside emerging friendship patterns in 57 freshly formed school classes (n = 1,217), using incentivized measures. We demonstrate the existence of cooperative clusters in society, examine their emergence, and expand the evidence from controlled experiments to real-world social networks. Our results suggest that being embedded in cooperative environments substantially enhances the social preferences of individuals, thus contributing to the formation of cooperative clusters. Partner choice, in contrast, only marginally contributes to their emergence. We conclude that cooperative preferences are contagious; social and cultural learning plays an important role in the development and evolution of cooperation.
Free access at DOI
Digital Object Identifier 10.1073/pnas.2000824117
Other Identification Number merlin-id:19829
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Keywords cooperation, social preferences, social networks, collective action, cultural evolution