PSYCH 1XX3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Eusociality, Game Studies, Natural Selection
24 Jan 2018
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Adaptations must increase success of the gene; not necessarily the group. Foraging in groups increases personal success of obtaining food. There is a trade-off between foraging for food in groups and scanning for predators. Foraging in groups ensures more time for foraging over scanning. Selection must be good for the gene, regardless of how it acts on the group. Altruism - behaviour in which the actor incurs a cost to provide a benefit to a recipient. Not altruism, because actor gains directly from behaviour. Altruists decrease their own fitness when helping others. Altruism cannot thrive if it cannot be passed down genetically. Includes all ants, some bees and some wasps: most individuals spend their lives serving the colony without reproducing. W. d hamilton realized that genes for altruism could be successful if they helped identical copies of themselves. Indirect fitness - fitness from the reproduction of close genetic relatives.
