IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/apmaco/v471y2024ics0096300324000675.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evolution of trust in structured populations

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Chaoqian

Abstract

The trust game, derived from an economics experiment, has recently attracted interest in the field of evolutionary dynamics. In a recent version of the evolutionary trust game, players adopt one of three strategies: investor, trustworthy trustee, or untrustworthy trustee. Trustworthy trustees enhance and share the investment with the investor, whereas untrustworthy trustees retain the full amount, betraying the investor. Following this setup, we investigate a two-player trust game, which is analytically feasible under weak selection. We explore the evolution of trust in structured populations, factoring in four strategy updating rules: pairwise comparison (PC), birth-death (BD), imitation (IM), and death-birth (DB). Comparing structured populations with well-mixed populations, we arrive at two main conclusions. First, in the absence of untrustworthy trustees, there is a saddle point between investors and trustworthy trustees, with collaboration thriving best in well-mixed populations. The collaboration diminishes sequentially from DB to IM to PC/BD updating rules in structured populations. Second, an invasion of untrustworthy trustees makes this saddle point unstable and leads to the extinction of investors. The 3-strategy system stabilizes at an equilibrium line where the trustworthy and untrustworthy trustees coexist. The stability span of trustworthy trustees is maximally extended under the PC and BD updating rules in structured populations, while it decreases in a sequence from IM to DB updating rules, with the well-mixed population being the least favorable. This research thus adds an analytical lens to the evolution of trust in structured populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Chaoqian, 2024. "Evolution of trust in structured populations," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 471(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:471:y:2024:i:c:s0096300324000675
    DOI: 10.1016/j.amc.2024.128595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0096300324000675
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.amc.2024.128595?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin Allen & Gabor Lippner & Yu-Ting Chen & Babak Fotouhi & Naghmeh Momeni & Shing-Tung Yau & Martin A. Nowak, 2017. "Evolutionary dynamics on any population structure," Nature, Nature, vol. 544(7649), pages 227-230, April.
    2. Anderhub, Vital & Engelmann, Dirk & Guth, Werner, 2002. "An experimental study of the repeated trust game with incomplete information," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 197-216, June.
    3. Erez Lieberman & Christoph Hauert & Martin A. Nowak, 2005. "Evolutionary dynamics on graphs," Nature, Nature, vol. 433(7023), pages 312-316, January.
    4. Liu, Yuyuan & Liu, Linjie & Guo, Ruqiang & Zhang, Liang, 2023. "N-player repeated evolutionary trust game under government management," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    5. Johnson, Noel D. & Mislin, Alexandra A., 2011. "Trust games: A meta-analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 865-889.
    6. Alex McAvoy & Benjamin Allen & Martin A. Nowak, 2020. "Social goods dilemmas in heterogeneous societies," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(8), pages 819-831, August.
    7. Corina E. Tarnita, 2015. "Fairness and Trust in Structured Populations," Games, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-17, July.
    8. Nancy Buchan & Rachel Croson, 1999. "Gender and Culture: International Experimental Evidence from Trust Games," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 386-391, May.
    9. Burks, Stephen V. & Carpenter, Jeffrey P. & Verhoogen, Eric, 2003. "Playing both roles in the trust game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 195-216, June.
    10. Ding, Rui & Wang, Xianjia & Zhao, Jinhua & Gu, Cuiling & Wang, Tao, 2023. "The evolution of cooperation in spatial public goods games under a risk-transfer mechanism," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    11. Xing Fang & Xiaojie Chen, 2021. "Evolutionary dynamics of trust in the N-player trust game with individual reward and punishment," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 94(9), pages 1-7, September.
    12. Naoki Masuda & Mitsuhiro Nakamura, 2012. "Coevolution of Trustful Buyers and Cooperative Sellers in the Trust Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-11, September.
    13. Wang, Chaoqian & Pan, Qiuhui & Ju, Xinxiang & He, Mingfeng, 2021. "Public goods game with the interdependence of different cooperative strategies," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    14. Hisashi Ohtsuki & Christoph Hauert & Erez Lieberman & Martin A. Nowak, 2006. "A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7092), pages 502-505, May.
    15. Engle-Warnick, Jim & Slonim, Robert L., 2004. "The evolution of strategies in a repeated trust game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 553-573, December.
    16. Guo, Ruqiang & Liu, Linjie & Liu, Yuyuan & Zhang, Liang, 2023. "Evolution of trust in a hierarchical population with different investors based on investment behavioral theory," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Qi Su & Alex McAvoy & Yoichiro Mori & Joshua B. Plotkin, 2022. "Evolution of prosocial behaviours in multilayer populations," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 338-348, March.
    18. Sun, Ketian & Liu, Yang & Chen, Xiaojie & Szolnoki, Attila, 2022. "Evolution of trust in a hierarchical population with punishing investors," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    19. Wang, Chaoqian & Szolnoki, Attila, 2023. "Inertia in spatial public goods games under weak selection," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 449(C).
    20. Berg Joyce & Dickhaut John & McCabe Kevin, 1995. "Trust, Reciprocity, and Social History," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 122-142, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Rauwolf & Joanna J. Bryson, 2018. "Expectations of Fairness and Trust Co-Evolve in Environments of Partial Information," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 891-917, December.
    2. Lisa R. Anderson & Jennifer M. Mellor & Jeffrey Milyo, 2005. "An Experimental Study of the Effects of Inequality and Relative Deprivation on Trusting Behavior," Working Papers 14, Department of Economics, College of William and Mary.
    3. Chaoqian Wang & Matjaž Perc & Attila Szolnoki, 2024. "Evolutionary dynamics of any multiplayer game on regular graphs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Bellemare, Charles & Kroger, Sabine, 2007. "On representative social capital," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 183-202, January.
    5. repec:tiu:tiucen:200457 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Cox, James C. & Kerschbamer, Rudolf & Neururer, Daniel, 2016. "What is trustworthiness and what drives it?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 197-218.
    7. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:5:p:1123-1145 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. repec:dgr:kubcen:200347 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Kenju Akai & Robert J. Netzer, 2009. "Trust and Reciprocity among International Groups: Experimental Evidence from Austria and Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 0737r, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, revised Aug 2010.
    10. Xiaochen Wang & Lei Zhou & Alex McAvoy & Aming Li, 2023. "Imitation dynamics on networks with incomplete information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    11. Shu-Heng Chen & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tong Zhang, 2015. "Network-Based Trust Games: An Agent-Based Model," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 18(3), pages 1-5.
    12. Bellemare, Charles & Kroger, Sabine, 2007. "On representative social capital," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 183-202, January.
    13. Sun, Ketian & Liu, Yang & Chen, Xiaojie & Szolnoki, Attila, 2022. "Evolution of trust in a hierarchical population with punishing investors," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    14. Lumeau, Marianne & Masclet, David & Penard, Thierry, 2015. "Reputation and social (dis)approval in feedback mechanisms: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 127-140.
    15. repec:tiu:tiucen:200347 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:jdm:journl:v:17:y:2022:i:5:p:1123-1145 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kanagaretnam, Kiridaran & Mestelman, Stuart & Khalid Nainar, S.M. & Shehata, Mohamed, 2012. "The impact of empowering investors on trust and trustworthiness," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 566-577.
    18. Goeschl, Timo & Jarke, Johannes, 2014. "Trust, but verify? When trustworthiness is observable only through (costly) monitoring," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 20, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    19. Guo, Ruqiang & Liu, Linjie & Liu, Yuyuan & Zhang, Liang, 2024. "Evolution of trust in the N-player trust game with the margin system," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 473(C).
    20. Dimitri Dubois & Marc Willinger, 2007. "The role of players’ identification in the population on the trusting and the trustworthy behavior an experimental investigation," Working Papers 07-06, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised Jun 2007.
    21. Corina E. Tarnita, 2015. "Fairness and Trust in Structured Populations," Games, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-17, July.
    22. Holden , Stein T. & Tilahun , Mesfin, 2018. "Gender Differences in Risk Tolerance, Trust and Trustworthiness: Are They Related?," CLTS Working Papers 3/18, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Centre for Land Tenure Studies, revised 16 Oct 2019.
    23. Liu, Yuyuan & Liu, Linjie & Guo, Ruqiang & Zhang, Liang, 2023. "N-player repeated evolutionary trust game under government management," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    24. Giuseppe Danese & Luigi Mittone, 2020. "On pledging one's trustworthiness through gifts: an experimental inquiry," CEEL Working Papers 2001, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    25. Gabriele Bellucci, 2022. "A Model of Trust," Games, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-27, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:apmaco:v:471:y:2024:i:c:s0096300324000675. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-mathematics-and-computation .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.