Abstract:Understanding why individuals carry out behaviours that benefit others, especially genetically unrelated others, has been a major undertaking in many fields and particularly in biology. Here, we focus on the cooperation literature from natural populations and present the benefits of a social network approach in terms of how it can help to identify and understand factors that influence the maintenance and spread of cooperation, but are not easily captured when solely considering independent dyadic interactions.… Show more
“…Interestingly, we also found that participation in mobbing was more sensitive to the potential costs of participation than the potential benefits of success. Furthermore, our finding that long-term social ties were associated with mobbing supports theoretical work demonstrating the importance of social network connections to successful group cooperation 16,17 . Importantly, our work adds a third critical component to successful collective action: short-term prosocial behaviors.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 85%
“…Theoretical modelling suggests that group members are more likely to participate when they can expect the biggest share of the benefits or rewards, can contribute for the lowest cost, or are the most capable (e.g., largest, strongest) 14,15 . Other theoretical studies have demonstrated the importance of social network connections to successful collective action, especially in societies where social relationships are critical to fitness 16,17 . However, empirical studies about collective action within heterogenous animal groups are still lacking.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We also predicted that hyenas would be more likely to participate when they are in top physical condition (i.e., prime-aged and good nutritional state), such that they can escape from lions more easily and thus bear a lower cost of participation 14,38 . Based on theoretical studies showing the importance of social networks to successful cooperation 16,17 , we also predicted that hyenas would be more likely to participate when their social allies or kin are present, as occurs in other socially complex species 39,40 . Finally, hyenas engage in ritualized greeting behavior, which functions to promote cooperation and reinforce social bonds 41 ; we thus expected that occurrence of this affiliative behavior shortly before mobbing would increase an individual's likelihood of participating 36,42 .…”
Many species engage in risky cooperative behaviors, which pose a challenge to evolutionary theory: participants take on all the costs of cooperation, yet even non-participants benefit from success in these encounters. So, why participate in these risky behaviors? We address this question using data from spotted hyenas fighting with lions. Lions are much larger, and kill many hyenas, so these fights require cooperative mobbing by hyenas for them to succeed. We identify factors that predict: (1) when hyena groups engage in cooperative fights with lions, (2) which individuals choose to participate, and (3) how the benefits of victory are distributed among cooperators and non-cooperators. We find that cooperative mobbing is more strongly influenced by lower costs (no male lions, more hyenas) than higher benefits (need for food). Individual participation is facilitated by social factors, both over the long term (close kin, social bond strength) and the short term (greeting interactions prior to cooperation). Finally, we find some direct benefits of participation; after cooperation, participants were more likely to feed at contested carcasses than non-participants. Overall, these results suggest that, when animals play dangerous cooperative games, selection favors flexible strategies that are sensitive to dynamic factors emerging over multiple time-scales.
“…Interestingly, we also found that participation in mobbing was more sensitive to the potential costs of participation than the potential benefits of success. Furthermore, our finding that long-term social ties were associated with mobbing supports theoretical work demonstrating the importance of social network connections to successful group cooperation 16,17 . Importantly, our work adds a third critical component to successful collective action: short-term prosocial behaviors.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 85%
“…Theoretical modelling suggests that group members are more likely to participate when they can expect the biggest share of the benefits or rewards, can contribute for the lowest cost, or are the most capable (e.g., largest, strongest) 14,15 . Other theoretical studies have demonstrated the importance of social network connections to successful collective action, especially in societies where social relationships are critical to fitness 16,17 . However, empirical studies about collective action within heterogenous animal groups are still lacking.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We also predicted that hyenas would be more likely to participate when they are in top physical condition (i.e., prime-aged and good nutritional state), such that they can escape from lions more easily and thus bear a lower cost of participation 14,38 . Based on theoretical studies showing the importance of social networks to successful cooperation 16,17 , we also predicted that hyenas would be more likely to participate when their social allies or kin are present, as occurs in other socially complex species 39,40 . Finally, hyenas engage in ritualized greeting behavior, which functions to promote cooperation and reinforce social bonds 41 ; we thus expected that occurrence of this affiliative behavior shortly before mobbing would increase an individual's likelihood of participating 36,42 .…”
Many species engage in risky cooperative behaviors, which pose a challenge to evolutionary theory: participants take on all the costs of cooperation, yet even non-participants benefit from success in these encounters. So, why participate in these risky behaviors? We address this question using data from spotted hyenas fighting with lions. Lions are much larger, and kill many hyenas, so these fights require cooperative mobbing by hyenas for them to succeed. We identify factors that predict: (1) when hyena groups engage in cooperative fights with lions, (2) which individuals choose to participate, and (3) how the benefits of victory are distributed among cooperators and non-cooperators. We find that cooperative mobbing is more strongly influenced by lower costs (no male lions, more hyenas) than higher benefits (need for food). Individual participation is facilitated by social factors, both over the long term (close kin, social bond strength) and the short term (greeting interactions prior to cooperation). Finally, we find some direct benefits of participation; after cooperation, participants were more likely to feed at contested carcasses than non-participants. Overall, these results suggest that, when animals play dangerous cooperative games, selection favors flexible strategies that are sensitive to dynamic factors emerging over multiple time-scales.
“…In real life, power and affiliation have been identified as two main factors for social relations 26 – 31 and two important goals that an individual could have irrespective of their demography, culture or wealth 32 . Further, quickly assessing the social status (i.e., power) and kinship (i.e., affiliation) of others is an important basis for survival and reproduction of social animals 33 . Figure 1 Experimental design.…”
Individuals use social information to guide social interactions and to update relationships along multiple social dimensions. However, it is unclear what neural basis underlies this process of abstract “social navigation”. In the current study, we recruited twenty-nine participants who performed a choose-your-own-adventure game in which they interacted with fictional characters during fMRI scanning. Using a whole-brain GLM approach, we found that vectors encoding two-dimensional information about the relationships predicted BOLD responses in the hippocampus and the precuneus, replicating previous work. We also explored whether these geometric representations were related to key brain regions previously identified in physical and abstract spatial navigation studies, but we did not find involvement of the entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal gyrus or the retrosplenial cortex. Finally, we used psychophysiological interaction analysis and identified a network of regions that correlated during participants’ decisions, including the left posterior hippocampus, precuneus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and the insula. Our findings suggest a brain network for social navigation in multiple abstract, social dimensions that includes the hippocampus, precuneus, dlPFC, and insula.
“…image-scoring or reciprocity 75]. Tibbetts & Dale [1] note that individual recognition is particularly important when "there are repeated interactions among multiple individuals with differing intentions" which is exactly the case in most settings where cooperation arises; cooperation (especially among non-kin) is most likely to occur when there are stable social structures and heterogenous interactions [76][77][78].…”
Section: Cooperation and Individual Recognitionmentioning
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