Multiplex Network Structure Enhances the Role of Generalized Reciprocity in Promoting Cooperation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that multiplex network structures significantly enhance the effectiveness of generalized reciprocity in fostering cooperation among agents, even under conditions favoring defection.

Contribution

It introduces a model analyzing cooperation in multidimensional networks, showing multiplex structures amplify the role of generalized reciprocity in promoting cooperation.

Findings

Multiplex networks act as latent support for cooperation.

Generalized reciprocity concentrates cooperation in favorable dimensions.

Network structure can override parameters favoring defection.

Abstract

In multi-agent systems, cooperative behavior is largely determined by the network structure which dictates the interactions among neighboring agents. These interactions often exhibit multidimensional features, either as relationships of different types or temporal dynamics, both of which may be modeled as a "multiplex" network. Against this background, here we advance the research on cooperation models inspired by generalized reciprocity, a simple pay-it-forward behavioral mechanism, by considering a multidimensional networked society. Our results reveal that a multiplex network structure can act as an enhancer of the role of generalized reciprocity in promoting cooperation by acting as a latent support, even when the parameters in some of the separate network dimensions suggest otherwise (i.e. favor defection). As a result, generalized reciprocity forces the cooperative contributions of the individual agents to concentrate in the dimension which is most favorable for the existence of cooperation.