CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2026
| Author | Sadekar, Onkar |
|---|---|
| Title | Collective Dynamics in Evolutionary Processes and Strategic Group Interactions |
| Summary | Complexity permeates every scale of our lives, and network science provides a versatile tool to reveal the hidden patterns and relationships that bind components of complex interconnected social systems. Yet traditional networks, limited to pairwise connections, cannot systematically capture the richness of non‐dyadic, group‐level interactions and their effects on social dynamics and system behavior. In response, a recent deluge of theoretical and empirical studies has highlighted how higher‐order interactions enrich our understanding of real‐world complexity. In this thesis, we investigate the collective dynamics arising as a consequence of group interactions through theoretical, computational, and empirical approaches. We begin by surveying digital data sources where higher‐order methods have yielded fresh insights into social organization, group formation, and social phenomena such as contagion. Focusing on strategic behavior, we synthesize key ideas from evolutionary games in group structured populations and propose a new model that embeds group interactions directly into strategic dynamics. This model reveals the emergence of an explosive transition towards cooperation where multi‐dimensional strategies and nested interaction patterns act as crucial drivers to further enhance pro-sociality in social dilemmas. To trace the evolutionary origins of these dilemmas, we propose a game selection mechanism in which more fit and cooperative games persist, showing that structured populations foster cooperative environments. Going beyond cooperation, we then investigate diffusion of innovations by coupling higher‐order structure with dynamical recombination processes, finding that group interactions accelerate complex cultural recombinations while hindering simpler recombinations. Finally, to empirically investigate collective dynamics, we analyze group behavior in a particular team sport - cricket. We quantify various markers of individual and team success and provide evidence of emergent patterns such as the hot hand effect and the importance of specialists for team performance. By integrating group interactions into existing frameworks, this thesis hopes to advance our understanding of the mechanisms driving collective behavior in varied social and strategic contexts. |
| Supervisor | Battiston, Federico |
| Department | Network Science PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2026/sadekar_onkar.pdf |
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