title: Joint modeling of multiple social networks to elucidate primate social dynamics: I. maximum entropy principle and network-based interactions.
abstract: In a complex behavioral system, such as an animal society, the dynamics of the system as a whole represent the synergistic interaction among multiple aspects of the society. We constructed multiple single-behavior social networks for the purpose of approximating from multiple aspects a single complex behavioral system of interest: rhesus macaque society. Instead of analyzing these networks individually, we describe a new method for jointly analyzing them in order to gain comprehensive understanding about the system dynamics as a whole. This method of jointly modeling multiple networks becomes valuable analytical tool for studying the complex nature of the interaction among multiple aspects of any system. Here we develop a bottom-up, iterative modeling approach based upon the maximum entropy principle. This principle is applied to a multi-dimensional link-based distributional framework, which is derived by jointly transforming the multiple directed behavioral social network data, for extracting patterns of synergistic inter-behavioral relationships. Using a rhesus macaque group as a model system, we jointly modeled and analyzed four different social behavioral networks at two different time points (one stable and one unstable) from a rhesus macaque group housed at the California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC). We report and discuss the inter-behavioral dynamics uncovered by our joint modeling approach with respect to social stability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Hsieh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fushing
authors.forename: Brianne A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Beisner
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCowan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011323:Primates; D012919:Social Behavior