Chapter 10

Question 1

do genetics play a role in cooperation

Answer 1

yes, genetic relatives are more likely to cooperate

Question 2

cooperation

Answer 2

Cooperation typically refers to an outcome in which two or
more interacting individuals each receives a net benefit from their joint actions, despite the costs they may have to pay for undertaking such actions.

Question 3

what are the four paths to cooperation

Answer 3

byproduct mutualism, group selection, reciprocity, and kin selection

Question 4

game theory reciprocal altruism

Answer 4

Game theory is a mathematical tool
that is used when the payoff—some resource such as food, mating opportunities, and so on—that an individual receives for undertaking an action depends on what behavior others adopt. Payoffs are used as indirect proxies for fitness.

Question 5

prisoners dilemma

Answer 5

Two people are accused of a crime and are held in separate locations.
Each person must decide whether to confess or remain silent. The outcome depends on both people’s decisions. The dilemma is that while it’s rational for each person to confess, cooperation would yield a better outcome for both.

Question 6

what is tit for tat in the prisoners dilemma

Answer 6

“always be noncooperative” (labeled “always defect” or
ALLD), a reciprocity-based strategy ex: if my partner cooperates, then cooperate; if my partner defects, then defect. TFT reciprocates acts of cooperation, as well as acts of defection

Question 7

Three characteristics of the tit for tat strategy

Answer 7

niceness (never cheats first), swift retaliation (responds to cheating by cheating), and forgiveness (forgives earlier cheating)

Question 8

group selection

Answer 8

where a trait group is defined as a group in which all individuals affect one another’s fitness

Question 9

within group favors what and between group favors what

Answer 9

within favors selfishness and between favors cooperation

Question 10

dyadic interactions

Answer 10

two individuals interact in
such a way that the fitness of each is affected by both its own action
and the action of its partner.

Question 11

polyadic interactions

Answer 11

interactions that involve more than two individuals

Question 12

alliance

Answer 12

when coalitions exist for a long period of time
ex: dolphins

Question 13

coalition

Answer 13

a cooperative action taken by at least two individuals or groups against another individual or group
ex: baboons

Question 14

interspecific mutualism

Answer 14

cooperation between species
ex: In some species of butterflies and ants, a mutualistic relationship has evolved in which butterfly pupae and larvae produce a sugary secretion that ants readily consume, and ants protect the larvae from fly and wasp predators