What is cooperation?
A behavior which provides a benefit to another individual (recipient), and which is selected for because of its beneficial effect on the recipient.
What is mutual benefit?
A behavior which is beneficial to both the actor and the recipient
What is altruism?
A behavior which is costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipient where cost and benefits are defined on the basis on the lifetime direct fitness consequences of a behavior
What is selfishness?
A behavior which is beneficial to the actor and costly to the recipient.
What is spite?
A behavior which is costly to both the actor and the recipient
What is Game Theory?
An evolutionary approach to the study of adaptive value in which payoffs to individuals associated with one behavioral tactic are dependent upon what the other members of the group are doing.
What is Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS)?
A genetically distinctive set of rules for behavior that when adopted by a certain proportion of the population cannot be replaced by any alternative strategy.
What is the Prisoner's Dilemma?
A game theory payoff matrix used to study the evolution of cooperation in which the fitness payoffs to individuals are set such that mutual cooperation between the players generates a lower return than defection, which occurs when one individual accepts a
What s reciprocity?
Also known as reciprocal altruism in which a helpful action is repaid at a later date by the recipient of assistance. An exchange of altruistic acts.
What is cooperation and how is it different from socially mediated coordination?
Cooperative behaviors are where individuals perform activities that are adapted to increasing the fitness of others because this ultimately contributes to their own direct fitness.
Socially coordinated behaviors are where individuals adjust their actions
What is an evolutionary stable strategy and what does it have to do with games theory?
A genetically distinctive set of rules for behavior that when adopted by a certain proportion of the population cannot be replaced by any alternative strategy
It's fitness depends on strategy.
What strategy is best for winning the Prisoners Dilemma game and does it change if you play the same opponent many times?
Pavlov's approach.
Cooperate on first turn, retain same strategy if previous pay-off was Reward for coop or Temptation to defect, switch strategy if previous pay-off was Suckers pay off or Punishment for mutual defection
Describe 4 different routes to achieve cooperation.
Kin Selection- Helping individuals that same copies of the same gene (skunk sprays, chases off predators, protect any relatives nearby)
By-Product benefits- Cooperation arises as a by product of an otherwise selfish act (skunk spray saves skunk, but also
Why is kin selection no longer considered the most important route to achieve cooperation?
Because of the mutual benefits that come from and to helpers. Unrelated animals can find safety or benefits such as mates, territory, food sources, etc, by being in a group of unrelated or distantly related individuals
How do differences in the costs and benefits of group living determine the potential for cooperation?
Think of the classroom and the bear being let in.
Dilution effect- if theres a bear let in then the if theres 225 students you've got a 1/225 chance of getting eaten
Selfish heard- people in the middle of the crowd are less likely to be eaten
Confusion ef
Why are observed groups almost always larger than the predicted optimal group size?
Because the benefit gained by the single individual joining a group is much larger than the cost to the group being larger than the optimal size.
Which mechanism of predator defense best explains elk vigilance?
The many eyes effect.