Spite is contagious in dynamic networks

Spite, costly behavior that harms others, presents an evolutionary puzzle: given that both the actor and recipient do worse, how could it emerge? We show that dynamically evolving interaction networks provide a novel explanation for the evolution of costly harm. Previous work has shown that anti-correlated interaction (e.g., negative assortment or negative relatedness) among behavioral strategies in populations can lead to the evolution of costly harm. We show that these approaches are blind to important features of interaction brought about by a co-evolution of network and behavior and that these features enable the emergence of spite. We analyze a new model in which agents can inflict harm on others at a cost to themselves, and simultaneously learn how to behave and with whom to interact. We find spite emerges reliably under a wide range of conditions. Our model reveals that when interactions occur in dynamic networks the population can exhibit correlated and anti-correlated behavioral interactions simultaneously, something not possible in standard models. In dynamic networks spite evolves due to transient and partial anti-correlated interaction, even when other behaviors are positively correlated and average degree of correlated interaction in the population is low. As spiteful behaviors harm both the actor and the target, it is challenging to understand how these behaviors could be adaptive. Here Fulker et al. show that spite can be favored by feedbacks with network structure that create correlated and anti-correlated behavioral interactions simultaneously.

Automated summary

The study suggests that dynamically evolving interaction networks provide a novel explanation for the evolution of spiteful behaviors. In dynamic networks, spiteful behaviors can emerge even when other behaviors are positively correlated and the average degree of correlated interaction in the population is low, due to transient and partial anti-correlated interactions. The findings show that feedbacks with network structure can favor the evolution of spite by creating correlated and anti-correlated behavioral interactions simultaneously.