Psychology 3228 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Reciprocal Altruism, Nash Equilibrium, Hunter-Gatherer

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 3228
• Professor: Scott Mac Dougall- Shackleton

Document Summary

Cost of altruistic act to the recipient should be lower than the benefit to the actor. Animals should be capable of recognizing each other in order both to reciprocate and to detect cheats. Animals should have a reasonable long life span in order that they may repeatedly encounter specific individuals and allow for incidents of reciprocation to occur. Reciprocal altruism began to be replaced by terms: direct reciprocation, reciprocation or reciprocity. 2 other ways of explaining the giving of aid to non-relatives: Mutualism: when two or more individuals benefit from a cooperative act at the time of the act. In contrast to reciprocation where there is an initial cost- benefit asymmetry that is later repaid. Manipulation: when one individual such as a dominant conspecific coerces another into providing aid. Trivers arguments for role of reciprocity in hominin evolution: All existent societies fulfill his three prerequisites.