A Model of Genetic Variation in Human Social Networks
| Title: | A Model of Genetic Variation in Human Social Networks |
| Author: |
Christakis, Nicholas Alexander; Fowler, James H.; Dawes, Christopher T.
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors. |
| Citation: | Fowler, James H., Christopher T. Dawes, and Nicholas Alexander Christakis. 2009. A model of genetic variation in human social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106(6): 1720–1724. |
| Full Text & Related Files: |
Christakis_GeneticVariation.pdf (5.798Mb; PDF) 
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| Abstract: | Social networks exhibit strikingly systematic patterns across a wide range of human contexts. While genetic variation accounts for a significant portion of the variation in many complex social behaviors, the heritability of egocentric social network attributes is unknown. Here we show that three of these attributes (in-degree, transitivity, and centrality) are heritable. We then develop a “mirror network” method to test extant network models and show that none account for observed genetic variation in human social networks. We propose an alternative “Attract and Introduce” model with two simple forms of heterogeneity that generates significant heritability as well as other important network features. We show that the model is well suited to real social networks in humans. These results suggest that natural selection may have played a role in the evolution of social networks. They also suggest that modeling intrinsic variation in network attributes may be important for understanding the way genes affect human behaviors and the way these behaviors spread from person to person. |
| Published Version: | doi:10.1073/pnas.0806746106 |
| Terms of Use: | This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAP |
| Citable link to this page: | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4276346 |
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