Structural balance in the social networks of rock hyraxes
http://www.tau.ac.il/~geffene/PDFs/93-Anim_Behav_2013b.pdf
This academic paper analyzed the social bonds and networks of wild mammals, specifically the rock hyrax. Scientists observed hyrax social activity for 5 days a week and recorded their social interactions with other hyraxes. Positive interactions included physical contract, such as huddling, or coordinated activity, such as sitting together. Negative interactions included exposing large incisors, displacement, growling, and biting. Based on the interactions, networks were constructed with triads containing the observed positive and negative relationships. Overall, 11 networks were tested and the balanced +++ and +triads were more common than expected by change, while the unbalanced triad were less common. It was found that ++— triads that only included females were more likely to develop into +++ triads in the following year. Furthermore, this study revealed important insight into social structure and the stabilizing nature of it. In 91% of the cases, the hyraxes that were involved in unbalanced triads, most commonly ++—, actively worked to change them by creating more positive links and moving toward +++ triads. Overall, the rock hyraxes demonstrated continued progress towards more balanced triads, emphasizing the important role of structural balance in stabilizing social networks.
As discussed in class, the structural balance theory utilizes positive and negative links in patterns of 3 nodes and examines whether they are balanced or unbalanced. The graph is said to be balanced if either all edges are + or the nodes can be divided into two groups. This is important because it is only when all triangles within a graph are balanced that the complete graph can be balanced. This study was important in examining the impact of unbalanced triangles on the social structure as a whole. With unbalanced triangles, the social structure proves to be more unstable, ultimately revealing the impact that negative and positive relationships can have on the social structure as a whole. This paper displayed the effects of social networks on nonhuman species, provided insight into the stabilizing effects of structural balance, and revealed its impact on the evolution of social structures.