The role of social attraction and social avoidance in shaping modular networks

In this study, we simulated the emergence of networks depending on simple rules of social attraction (e.g. access to the highest benefits) and social avoidance (e.g. avoiding the highest costs). Individuals vary in the degree to which they signal benefits versus costs, and the formation of relationships depends on the extent to which these benefits and/or costs are perceived. We used matrices containing 2000 interactions per individual to estimate network properties.