Game theoretical inference of human behavior in social networks


Loading...

Date

2019-12-03

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

Social networks emerge as a result of actors’ linking decisions. We propose a game-theoretical model of socio-strategic network formation on directed weighted graphs, in which every actors’ benefit is a parametric trade-off between centrality measure, brokerage opportunities, clustering coefficient, and sociological network patterns. We use two different stability definitions to infer individual behavior of homogeneous, rational agents from network structure, and to quantify the impact of cooperation. Our theoretical analysis confirms results known for specific network motifs studied previously in isolation, yet enables us to precisely quantify the trade-offs in the space of user preferences. To deal with complex networks of heterogeneous and irrational actors, we construct a statistical behavior estimation method using Nash equilibrium conditions. We provide evidence that our results are consistent with empirical, historical, and sociological observations on real-world data-sets. Furthermore, our method offers sociological and strategic interpretations of random networks models, such as preferential attachment and small-world networks.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

10 (1)

Pages / Article No.

5507

Publisher

Nature

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Social networks; Game theory; Human behavior

Organisational unit

09478 - Dörfler, Florian / Dörfler, Florian check_circle

Notes

Funding

Related publications and datasets

Is cited by: