lecture 9 and 10 altruism

latane and darley experiment bystander intervention

when alone, participants are more likely to react to danger than when they're with another person

what is pluralistic ignorance

looking to others to define ambigious events

what is diffusion of responsibility

responsibility is divisible by number of people present i.e assume someone else will take action

when is responsibility not diffused

when co-witnesses are clearly not able to help, when responsbility is specifically attached to a bystander

the bystander effect

individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present

when is bystander effect reduced

when there is clear danger which induces higher levels of arousal and more helper

when is bystander effect increased

when among females or strangers, more likely in the lab than in field, increased number of bystanders

why would non helping be passed down

since helping is more costly than non helping, non-helpingis more 'fit' and will be passed down to subsequent generations

what is kinship selection

an organism accepts a personal cost to favor the reproductive success of its relatives

how does relatedness affect altruism

helping our relatives helps our genes be passed on, so the more closely related you are the more likely you will help them

what is inclusive fitness

how many copies of your genes is being passed onto the next generation (through your own offspring or relatives)

hamilton's rule

altruistic behaviour occurs when the benefit to close relatives outweighs the personal cost
benefit x relatedness > personal cost

what is the benefit in hamiltons rule

how many extra offspring the relative produces because of help

what is the coefficient of relatedness in hamiltons rule

the percentage of genes shared i.e 0.5 with parents and siblings

what did burnstein et al find

percieved kinship decreases after parents and siblings, dependent on levels of help needed, relatedness is more important in more dangerous situations

what did blasi et al find

both men and women more likely to save biological child over romantic partner but men more likely to choose romantic partner than women
more likely to save offspring and sibling but not cousin over romantic partner

what is reciprocal altruism

when an organism is altruistic due to high benefit to cost ratio, and with the expectation that the favor will be returned in the future

5 necessary conditions for reciprocal altruism

social species, stable groups, good face recognition, good long term memory, non-cooperation with defectors

non zero sum game

there are both win-win outcomes where everyone benefits, or lose-lose outcomes where everyone suffers

what did axelrod do with PD

best strategy for prisoner's dilemna was 'tit for tat', where partner cooperates first and then constant cooperation follows , but unintended betrayal triggers endless defections , leading to generous tit for tat where you cooperate on every 3 defections

model of generous tit 4 tat in reality

acc to trivers, depends on your mood

what did fehr and gatcher public goods game find

proved that human cooperation relies heavily on altruistic punishment

what is altruistic punishment

the willingness of individuals to punish "cheaters" at a personal financial cost

how does altruistic punishment help individuals

reputational benefits, building social capital

ep vs sp

ep gives ultimate causation, sp gives proximate causatio