Reputation Effects in Social Networks Do Not Promote Cooperation: An Experimental Test of the Raub & Weesie Model

Abstract

Despite the popularity of the notion that social cohesion in the form of dense social networks promotes cooperation in Prisoner’s Dilemmas through reputation, very little experimental evidence for this claim exists. We address this issue by testing hypotheses from one of the few rigorous game-theoretic models on this topic, the Raub & Weesie model, in two incentivized lab experiments. In the experiments, 156 subjects played repeated two-person PDs in groups of six. In the “atomized interactions” condition, subjects were only informed about the outcomes of their own interactions, while in the “embedded” condition, subjects were informed about the outcomes of all interactions in their group, allowing for reputation effects. The design of the experiments followed the specification of the RW model as closely as possible. For those aspects of the model that had to be modified to allow practical implementation in an experiment, we present additional analyses that show that these modifications do not affect the predictions. Contrary to expectations, we do not find that cooperation is higher in the embedded condition than in the atomized interaction. Instead, our results are consistent with an interpretation of the RW model that includes random noise, or with learning models of cooperation in networks.

Resilient Cooperators Stabilize Long-Run Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma

“…To show this result, we first define r N as the average first round of defection r d for rational players as it approaches its asymptotic limit (in practice we estimate r N by running the simulations for at least 2,000 games). Figure 6b shows estimated r N as a function of a along with the values of aE0.4, r N E8.2 obtained from our experiment (averaged over the stable phase, days [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In addition to reinforcing the agreement between experiment and simulation noted above, Fig.…”

“…Third, however, almost 40% of players (n ¼ 36) displayed no such systematic unravelling tendency, consistently playing CC throughout the experiment. Figure 4b which shows a histogram of % games playing CC during the stable interval (days [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] shows that in fact these 36 players, who occupy the right-hand mode of the histogram, all play CC in at least 80% of games. Finally, Fig.…”

“…T he mechanisms by which cooperation among humans has evolved and can be sustained have long been of interest to researchers across several disciplines including economics [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] , sociology [11][12][13][14] , psychology [15][16][17] , political science [18][19][20] , evolutionary biology [21][22][23][24][25][26] and complex systems research [27][28][29][30] . Despite this extraordinary level of attention, numerous questions remain unresolved.…”

Resilient cooperators stabilize long-run cooperation in the finitely repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma

“…The mechanisms by which cooperation among humans has evolved and can be sustained have long been of interest to researchers across several disciplines including economics12345678910, sociology11121314, psychology151617, political science181920, evolutionary biology212223242526 and complex systems research27282930. Despite this extraordinary level of attention, numerous questions remain unresolved.…”

Agent-Based Models in Social Physics

“…Several agent-based models for the emotion contagion have been proposed to explain the cooperation on the complex networks [48,49]. Reputation influences on the formation of opinion.…”