scholarly journals Condition-dependent trade-offs maintain honest signaling: A laboratory experiment

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Számadó ◽  
Flóra Samu ◽  
Károly Takács
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Honest Signaling ◽  
Handicap Principle ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

AbstractHow and why animals and humans signal reliably is a key issue in biology and social sciences. For many years the dominant paradigm in biology was the Handicap Principle. It claims a causal relationship between honesty and signal cost and thus predicts that honest signals have to be costly to produce. However, contrary to the Handicap Principle, game theoretical models predict that honest signaling is maintained by condition dependent signaling trade-offs and honest signals need not be costly at the equilibrium. Due to the difficulties of manipulating signal cost and signal trade-offs there is surprisingly little evidence to test these predictions either from biology or from social sciences. Here we conduct a human laboratory experiment with a two-factorial design to test the role of equilibrium signal cost vs. signalling trade-offs in the maintenance of honest communication. We have found that the trade-off condition has much higher influence on the reliability of communication than the equilibrium cost condition. The highest level of honesty was observed in the condition dependent trade-off condition as predicted by recent models. Negative production cost, i.e. fix benefit-contrary to the prediction of the Handicap Principle-promoted even higher level of honesty than the other type of costs under this condition.

The Future of Liberal Democracies, Pandemic Trade-Offs, and the Role of Social Sciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Radoslaw Markowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Previous Knowledge ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The Future ◽  
Democratic Norms

The article is written in the form of an essay (for Dahrendorf Symposium), speculative in essence, yet based on the new selected evidence concerning peoples’ opinions and attitudes disclosed during the pandemic. It starts with remarks about predictions in social sciences and the complex problems in studying the shocks created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Second part is devoted to major challenges and trade-offs states, governments and citizens have to face currently, focusing on one particular which is crucial for the future quality of liberal democracies, that is a trade-off between democratic norms and values and surveillance practices. The article concludes with a discussion of several issues, which have become more salient during the pandemic, challenging our previous knowledge about them.

scholarly journals The transformative service paradox: the dilemma of wellbeing trade-offs

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-663
Author(s):  
Rebekah Russell–Bennett ◽  
Rory Mulcahy ◽  
Kate Letheren ◽  
Ryan McAndrew ◽  
Uwe Dulleck
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiment ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Physical Wellbeing ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Future Implication

PurposeA transformative service aims to improve wellbeing; however, current approaches have an implicit assumption that all wellbeing dimensions are equal and more dimensions led to higher wellbeing. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence for a new framework that identifies the paradox of competing wellbeing dimensions for both the individual and others in society – the transformative service paradox (TSP).Design/methodology/approachData is drawn from a mixed-method approach using qualitative (interviews) and quantitative data (lab experiment) in an electricity service context. The first study involves 45 household interviews (n = 118) and deals with the nature of trade-offs at the individual level to establish the concept of the TSP. The second study uses a behavioral economics laboratory experiment (n = 110) to test the self vs. other nature of the trade-off in day-to-day use of electricity.FindingsThe interviews and experiment identified that temporal (now vs. future) and beneficiary-level factors explain why individuals make wellbeing trade-offs for the transformative service of electricity. The laboratory experiment showed that when the future implication of the trade-off is made salient, consumers are more willing to forego physical wellbeing for environmental wellbeing, whereas when the “now” implication is more salient consumers forego financial wellbeing for physical wellbeing.Originality/valueThis research introduces the term “Transformative Service Paradox” and identifies two factors that explain why consumers make wellbeing trade-offs at the individual level and at the societal level; temporal (now vs. future) and wellbeing beneficiary.

Are speed/accuracy trade-offs caused by neuromotor noise, or not?

1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem P. De Jong ◽  
Gerard P. Van Galen
Keyword(s):  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Kinematic Theory ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Biomechanical Constraints ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Existing Data ◽  
The Way

Notwithstanding its overwhelming descriptive power for existing data, it is not clear whether the kinematic theory of Plamondon & Alimi could generate new insights into biomechanical constraints and psychological processes underlying the way organisms trade off speed for accuracy. The kinematic model should elaborate on the role of neuromotor noise and on biomechanical strategies for reducing endpoint variability related to such noise.

scholarly journals Herbivore Population Dynamics in Response to Plant Allocation Strategies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Ji ◽  
Christopher R Stieha ◽  
Karen C Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Food Limitation ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Insect Herbivores ◽  
Insect Outbreaks ◽  
Tolerance Mechanisms ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Plant Allocation ◽  
Allocation Strategies

Abstract When herbivores feed, plants may respond by altering the quantity of edible biomass available to future feeders through mechanisms such as compensatory regrowth of edible structures or allocation of biomass to inedible reserves. Previous work showed that some forms of compensatory regrowth can drive insect outbreaks, but this work assumed regrowth occurred without any energetic cost to the plant. While this is a useful simplifying assumption for gaining preliminary insights, plants face an inherent trade-off between allocating energy to regrowth versus storage. Therefore, we cannot truly understand the role of compensatory regrowth in driving insect outbreaks without continuing on to more realistic scenarios. In this paper, we model the interaction between insect herbivores and plants that have a trade-off between compensatory regrowth and allocation to inedible reserves in response to herbivory. We found that the plant's allocation strategy, described in our model by parameters representing the strength of the overcompensatory response and the rates at which energy is stored and mobilized for growth, strongly affect whether herbivore outbreaks occur. Additional factors, such as the strength of food limitation and herbivore interference while feeding, influence the frequency of the outbreaks. Overall, we found a possible new role of overcompensation to promote herbivore fluctuations when it co-occurs with allocation to inedible reserves. We highlight the importance of considering trade-offs between tolerance mechanisms that plants use in response to herbivory by showing that new dynamics arise when different plant allocation strategies occur simultaneously.

scholarly journals Honesty needs no cost: beneficial signals can be honest and evolutionarily stable

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Számadó
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Handicap Principle ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Simple Action ◽  
Costly Signals ◽  
Evolutionarily Stable

AbstractHow and why animals communicate honestly is a key issue in biology. The role of signal cost is strongly entrenched in the maintenance in honest signalling. The handicap principle claims that honest signals have to be costly at the equilibrium and this cost is a theoretical necessity. The handicap principle further claims that signalling is fundamentally different from any other adaptation because honest signalling would collapse in the absence of cost. Here I investigate this claim in simple action-response game where signals do not have any cost, instead they have benefits. I show that such beneficial signals can be honest and evolutionarily stable. These signals can be beneficial to both high and low-quality signallers independently of the receiver’s response, yet they can maintain honest signalling just as much as costly signals. Signal cost-at or out of equilibrium-is not a necessary condition of honesty. Benefit functions can maintain honest signalling as long as the marginal cost-loss of benefit-is high enough for potential cheaters.

scholarly journals The role of equilibrium cost in the evolution of honest signalling: waste or optimal investment?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Szabolcs Számadó ◽  
Dustin J. Penn
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Optimal Investment ◽  
Cost Models ◽  
Potential Cost ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Honest Signalling ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Differential Costs ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThe relationship between signal cost and honesty is a controversial and unresolved issue. The handicap principle assumes that signals must be costly at equilibrium to be honest, and the greater the cost, the more reliable the signal. However, theoretical models and simulations question the necessity of equilibrium cost for the evolution of honest signalling. Honest signals can evolve without costs, and they can evolve through differential benefits with no need for differential costs. Here we investigate the role of equilibrium signal cost in the evolution of honest signals in both differential benefit and differential cost models using an agent-based simulation. We found that there is an optimal investment paid by honest individual that allows for the highest level of honesty when there is correlation between signal cost paid by low and high-quality individuals. This holds for both differential benefit and differential cost models as long there is a correlation between signal cost paid by low and high quality individuals. However, increasing equilibrium signal cost poses an obstacle and hinders the evolution of honest signalling when there is no correlation between the cost paid by low and high-quality individuals. Last but not least, we found that the potential cost of cheating is a much better predictor of honesty than the equilibrium cost paid by honest signallers.

The Threat of Genes: A Comment on Evan Charney's “Genes and Ideologies”

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Hannagan ◽  
Peter K. Hatemi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
American Political Science Review ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Science Review ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Political Science

In his essay, “Genes and Ideologies,” Evan Charney wrangles with the question of the role of genes in the formation of political attitudes via a critique of Alford, Funk, and Hibbing's 2005 American Political Science Review article. Although critical evaluations are necessary, his essay falls short of what is required of a scientific critique on both empirical and theoretical grounds. We offer a comment on his essay and further contend that it is naïve to proceed on the assumption that a barrier exists between the biological and social sciences, such that the biological sciences have nothing to offer the social sciences. If we look beyond our discipline's current theoretical models we may find a more thorough, and not just competing, explanation of political behavior.

Bee, hummingbird, or mixed-pollinated Salvia species mirror pathways to pollination optimization: a morphometric analysis based on the Pareto front concept

Botany ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina M. Strelin ◽  
Federico Sazatornil ◽  
Santiago Benitez-Vieyra ◽  
Mariano Ordano
Keyword(s):  
Pareto Front ◽  
Individual Contribution ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Flower Shape ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Hummingbird Pollination ◽  
Joint Contribution ◽  
Pollination Systems ◽  
Flower Structures

Optimization of flower phenotypes to ensure pollination by agents differing in their match with fertile flower structures can involve fitness trade-offs if the aspects of the phenotype that enhance the fitness contribution of one pollinator are detrimental for pollination by the other agents. If these trade-offs are substantial, flower optimization for specialized pollination is expected. However, optimization for generalized pollination may also take place in trade-off scenarios, as long as the joint contribution of two or more types of pollinators to global pollination fitness is greater than each individual contribution. We used an observational approach to evaluate the role of pollination fitness trade-offs in flower trait optimization, a matter seldom addressed because of the difficulties in conducting experiments. A pattern-searching tool based on the Pareto front concept, borrowed from the fields of economics and engineering, was used to test for fitness trade-off patterns in the flower shape of four Salvia (Lamiaceae) species. Two are pollinated exclusively either by bees or by hummingbirds; the remaining species have mixed-pollination systems, with varying contributions of bee and hummingbird pollination. The patterning of flower shape in this study suggests a bee–hummingbird pollination trade-off in Salvia, and the optimization of generalized flower shapes.

scholarly journals The diversity-ability trade-off in scientific problem solving

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuli Reijula ◽  
Jaakko Kuorikoski
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
High Ability ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Scientific Problem ◽  
Scientific Problem Solving ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
Problem Solving Task

According to the diversity-beats-ability theorem, groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers. We argue that the model introduced by Lu Hong and Scott Page (2004; see also Grim et al. 2019) is inadequate for exploring the trade-off between diversity and ability. This is because the model employs an impoverished implementation of the problem-solving task. We present a new version of the model which captures the role of ‘ability’ in a meaningful way, and use it to explore the trade-offs between diversity and ability in scientific problem solving.

scholarly journals Reinterpreting Fisher’s coordinated strategies: a longitudinal case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1166-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Stratton
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs

Purpose Much has been written about the need to align the supply chain with the product/market but it has proved, elusive especially in response to a supply change transitions. The purpose of this paper is to review the established theoretical models before considering how the realignment process can be better supported in the light of a longitudinal study. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a single apparel case where data were gathered over a five-year period involving multiple site visits, management interviews and archival data across three echelons of the supply chain. Repeated visits enabled the collection of contemporary evidence and the development and testing of the causal relationships. This case was part of a multi-case research project that explored the causal relationship between variation, uncertainty, performance trade-offs and buffering mechanisms (time, capacity and inventory). Findings The case analysis demonstrates how established theory and causal reasoning can be used to explain the trade-off oscillations that characterised this case. As with earlier studies, local cost considerations predominated, interspersed with strategic countermeasures. Fisher’s (1997) concept of coordinated strategies is shown to provide an effective means of clarifying the trade-off implications of the transition in support of proactive realignment. This concept is discussed in relation to other cases and literature before proposing how this could be developed and used as a basis for further research. Research limitations/implications This research was limited to a single case and although this involving several transitions the findings require further testing. Practical implications Supply chain redesign is of growing importance and with it the need to more effectively manage such transitions. This paper clarifies the need for supply chain orientation and offers means of clarifying the implications of such transitions to management. Originality/value This paper provides case evidence of the underlying operations management issues and the associated analysis.

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