1 / 18

Cooperation

Cooperation. Overview of the Day The evolution of cooperation Reciprocal altruism Cheater detection Friendship. The Evolution of Cooperation . How could cooperation evolve when among humans who are motivated by self-interest? The relation of cooperation to self-interest

demi
Download Presentation

Cooperation

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cooperation Overview of the Day The evolution of cooperation Reciprocal altruism Cheater detection Friendship

  2. The Evolution of Cooperation • How could cooperation evolve when among humans who are motivated by self-interest? • The relation of cooperation to self-interest • Kin Selection (kin-based altruism) • Reciprocal Altruism • Those who cooperate are more likely to survive and reproduce • The rabbit and deer problem

  3. Reciprocal Altruism • Giving help with the expectation that the other will return the favor in the future. • Both parties benefit (as long as cooperation is reciprocated) • Gain in trade--each party receives more in return than it costs to deliver the benefit • The theory of RA was developed by Robert Trivers (1971)

  4. Evidence for Reciprocal Altruism: The Prisoner's Dilemma • The problem of cooperation as modeled in the PD simulation • One-shot opportunity • 200 interactions (14 entries) • Indefinite interactions (62 entries) • In both iterated simulations the winning strategy was “tit for tat”

  5. Tit for Tat • (1) Cooperate on the first move and (2) reciprocate on every move thereafter • never be first to defect • retaliate only after the other has defected • be forgiving--if a defector starts to cooperate, the reciprocate • Do unto others… Forgive … (sound familiar?)

  6. Cooperation (tit for tat) in Nature • Vampire bats and blood • Male baboons and help getting sex • Female vervet monkeys: grooming and calls for help

  7. Reciprocal Altruism and the Problem of Cheating • RA works best when people don’t cheat • cheating: when people take the benefit but do not pay the cost of reciprocation • Therefore, need to detect cheaters • Cheater detection mechanism: • recognize different humans • remember histories of interaction • communicate what you want • understand what others want • represent costs and benefits of items

  8. Detecting Cheaters • We do it all the time • some examples... • Problem solving--much easier to solve problems of social exchange (than, say, abstract logical problems) • this suggests a long evolutionary history of reciprocal social exchange in humans (fundamental to our social life)

  9. Where Evolutionary Explanations of Altruism Run into Trouble: The Case of Good Samaritans • Good Samaritans: People helping non-kin with no expectation of the favor being returned. • Examples • How can we explain Good Samaritans?

  10. Friendship • Should altruism be defined in terms of costs or benefits? • What is a friend, what is friendship? • Is friendship based on social exchange or something else? • Friendship altruism is based on delivering benefits (not because you are incurring a cost) • For example, picking up a second bottle of milk for a friend when you go grocery shopping

  11. Altruism in And of Clay We are Created • What concepts from EP could explain why Rolf Carle risked life and limb, why he suffered as much as he did, to help the little girl? • Reciprocal altruism? • Was there a tit for tat? • Friendship • delivering benefits • Is this a case of unselfish altruism, and therefore not explainable by EP?

  12. The Banker’s Paradox and Friendship • The banker’s paradox: those who need the money most are the worst credit risks, and those who need it least are the best risks. Therefore banks tend to lend money to those who need it least. • Which friends are you most likely to help? Those who are poor or good credit risks? • Which is more true to life? • Nobody knows you when you’re down and out • A friend in need is a friend indeed

  13. The Grameen Bank, and the Banker’s Paradox • Originated in 1976/1983 in Bangladesh to provide credit to poor villagers • By 1998: 1,118 branches, service to 38,766 villages • 2.3 million borrowers • $2.5 billion in cumulative loans • $185 million in savings • 98% loan collection rate

  14. 95%of The Grameen Bank’s Borrowers are Women • No collateral • Loan acceptance based on peer group • Loan based on approval of a small peer group of borrowers • Default of one individual to to repay results in all group members become ineligible for further loans • One of the most successful 3rd world economic development programs to date

  15. Will Cold, Rational Strategies Win You More Friends? • To gain more friends, should you follow the advice in How to Win Friends and Influence People? or just be yourself? • Smile • Call people by their name • Make sure people don’t cause people to lose face

  16. What about Buss’ s Advice? • Highlight your unique attributes • Recognize undervalued attributes in others • Cultivate specialized skills that make you more irreplaceable • Seek out groups that value you • Avoid groups that don’t value you • Drive off rivals

  17. Summary and Projects • The evolution of cooperation • Reciprocal altruism • Cheater detection • Friendship • Your projects (time is moving fast): • Focus • Question that can be addressed with data • What type of data will you collect? • How will your data answer your question?

  18. For Next Time • Aggression, Buss, Cpt. 10; Allende, The Schoolteacher’s Guest

More Related