Evolutionary Psychology: Robert Axelrod's Dilemmas

Though one may favor exchange processes that conclude with a social association that values the idea of equality, however Blau states that exchange processes can “give rise to differentiation of power” (Blau 1964: 114), which results with relation to superordination and subordination. Blau explains this disequilibrium as a result of needs for resources from unlike partners and efforts among equals to gain advantages over the other (Blau 1964: 114). Relating to intrinsic rewards, if one counterpart gains a reward from the exchange, the other counterpart expects repayment in the form of future wards – hence the principle of reciprocity (Blau 1964: 121). Reciprocity between unlike counterparts creates this sense of imbalance

Sarah-Elizabeth Atunrase Final Paper 5/9/18 Final Paper The two behavioral concepts I recognized in the DeWaal paper were true altruism and empathy. Altruism is defined as “altruism without obvious advantages for the actor” (DeWaal). Reciprocal altruism is the act of giving aid or preforming an act of kindness in order to receive delayed benefits or even immediate benefits (Lecture 23: Empathy and Altruism). In order to participate in altruistic acts the species must have empathy. Empathy is important because in order to perform these acts of kindness one has to understand the emotion of another and be able to imagine what someone else is going through. Dewaal discusses how altruism in animals must stem from something other than actions with

Humans are more cooperative by nature instead of being more competitive by nature, In the article “Why We Help” by Martin A. Nowak, a group of professors discover the five different mechanisms that govern cooperation and explains how each mechanism governs one's ability to cooperate with others. The first mechanism mentioned in the article is direct reciprocity, this mechanism affects cooperation by making those individuals who repeatedly encounter one another feel more inclined to cooperate with one another. An example of this is written in the article “Why We Help” article, at the being of trying to figure out what makes organisms more inclined to cooperate with one another the professors would run a game theory paradox known as “Prisoner’s

The two articles that will be examined for this paper is, Is ‘Do Unto Others’ Written in our Genes and Only the Fair Deserve the Grape. These articles explore the ideas of morality and reciprocity and gives ideas into whether or not they combine. They offer similar views of why people help one another.

The bee flies from flower to flower as it gathers nectar. It lands on the next flower, gently rubbing off the pollen stuck on its body. As a result, the bee receives nutrition from the nectar and the flowering plant gets to reproduce. This is symbiosis in action featuring a mutualistic relationship where both organisms benefit from their interactions of, in this case, working together. However, all life on Earth has been known to be ultimately competitive. When basic needs are not met in the presence of limited resources, one’s own needs would be considered above the needs of everyone else; an act of selfishness to ensure survival. Although competition is emphasized in the struggle for survival and self-preservation, cooperation reduces conflict and promotes survival as all parties receive benefit from working together. In survival situations, one’s physical capabilities can only take them so far. It is a strong mental fortitude that must be established through having motivation and purpose; the reason why helping others gives a person the ability to also help themselves. Consequently, it is not required to be selfish in survival situations because cooperation is a key factor in survival and surviving requires a motivation which selfishness restricts.

Prosocial behavior refers to "voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals" (Eisenberg and Mussen 1989). This definition refers to consequences of the people who do the actions rather than the motivations behind those actions. These behaviors include a broad range of activities: sharing, comforting, rescuing, and helping. Though prosocial behavior can be confused with altruism, they are, in fact, two distinct concepts. Prosocial behavior refers to a pattern of activity, whereas, altruism is the motivation to help others out of pure regard for their needs rather than

The basic methodology of the current investigation is a qualitative case study method, in which the author writes subjective observations and details about a case or cases, which are then related to a more general subject (in this case, the importance of altruism). Case study methods tend to concentrate on how the general experiences of the case instances are able to be applied to a larger statistical body. The case study methodology is a tried and true method with a

An oxymoron appeared to exist between Darwin’s theory of natural selection (1859) and the definition of altruism (West et al., 2006). Hamilton’s theory of inclusive fitness (1964) appeared to mediate this problem. However, the theory does not explain altruistic acts towards non-kin in line with natural selection. Reciprocal altruism (Trivers, 1971), indirect altruism (Alexander, 1987) and strong reciprocity (Gintis, 2000) have been proposed to resolve this conflict. It is of note that behaviour in all theories has been noted in animals, but will not be discussed further. Instead, the essay will focus on which theories are most relevant when understanding human sociality, with the author explaining why no sole theory is seen to describe the phenomenon. All theories will be discussed in relation to evolutionary stable strategies (ESS), which refers to plans that when adopted by a majority of members in a population that restrict any other action existing, which could yield higher reproductive success (Smith & Price, 1973).

Altruism is when the actions of a person promote the best consequences for others, yet do not benefit the person who performed the act. Abruzzi and McGandy (2006) explain that Auguste Comte developed the term to support his ethical stance that humans are morally obliged to serve the interests of others,

Batson, C. D. (1991). The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Singer examines and dismisses the various views of philosophers throughout history saying that people are only motivated to be altruistic when it is self-rewarding.

Human altruism is much more nuanced than simply risking one's life for another, and cannot be accounted for by a simple application of Hamilton's rule. Many self-sacrificial acts that people perform for each other do not involve a direct risk to their life, and may also involve some benefit to the actor. Additionally, if the recipient of the act is not a relative, Hamilton's rule doe not apply. In fact, there is some question as to whether human altruism actually exists, or whether what we think of as altruism is actually just "enlightened self interest" (3). Many allow for altruistic acts to include benefits to the actor as long as they are the result of behavior by the recipient of the altruistic act, or others, and as long as the actor has no control over receiving these benefits (6). Others argue that all supposed altruism is really motivated by the benefits to the person performing the act. These include material gains, such as a

Altruistic acts are often seen through the benevolent acts of family members express towards each other on a regular basis. Because of the significant amount of genes we share with our kin, the survival of a family is prioritized equally to the survival of the individual. Each member of the family will therefore behave altruistically towards each other, due to the evolutionary drive for survival. The reason that parents behave this altruistically towards their offspring is because “parents (adults) are in a maximally favorable position to dispense inexpensive aid to offspring (eggs) that maximally resembles the parents genetically” (Alexander, 462). Even through altruism is perhaps highest between family members, people also feel more empathetic towards others who possess similar traits, as a large number of genes are share. As altruism “involves a loss of individual fitness, [it] can evolve only by group selection” (Nunney, 228). Therefore, we can see that nature’s force of the survival of the group is a primary driving factor for the appearance of altruism.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is an extremely popular game and way of thinking about social interactions and also economics. It judges how people work together and against each other. It helps us understand what governs the balance between cooperation and competition in business, in politics, and in social settings. The two players in the game can choose between two moves, either 'cooperate' or 'defect'. The idea is that each player gains when both cooperate, but if only one of them cooperates, the other one, who defects, will gain more. If both defect, both lose. The whole game situation and its different outcomes can be summarised with the example provided below, hypothetical situations are imagined with the example below

To study the evolution of human behavior, we must first understand the evolutionary foundation of modern human behavior. Using the knowledge we have about human behavior while observing for patterns that are consistent with evolutionary models. Taking advantage of natural experiments that produce different combinations of variables that can allows us to obtain new approach on human behavior. This chapter will focus on various aspects of human behavior from an evolutionary viewpoint. These involve the “ecology and demography of traditional human societies, patters of human behavior that have been shaped by sexual selection, the interaction between culture and biology in the expression of language, and the emergence of behavioral disease in an