Effects of Ecological Inheritance on Coevolution of Cooperative Behaviors and Physically Niche Constructing Behaviors

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuro Kojima ◽  
◽  
Reiji Suzuki ◽  
Takaya Arita
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Ecological Inheritance ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors ◽  
Spatial Prisoner’S Dilemma ◽  
Social Niche

Niche construction is a process whereby organisms that modify their own or others’ niches through their ecological activities. Recent studies have revealed that changes in social structures of interactions caused by social niche construction of individuals can affect seriously the evolution of cooperation. However, such a social niche also could be changed indirectly by a modification of their physical environment. Our purpose is to clarify the coevolution of cooperative behavior and physically niche-constructing behavior that modifies social niche indirectly. For this purpose, we constructed an evolutionary model in which each individual has not only a strategy for a spatial Prisoner’s Dilemma but also has traits for a niche-constructing behavior for modifying its physical environment that can limit social interactions between neighboring individuals. By conducting evolutionary experiments, we show that a cyclic coevolution between cooperative behavior and niche-constructing behavior occurred in the situation with no or low degree of ecological inheritance, in which the constructed niche could not be inherited in succeeding generations at all. Conversely, when the degree of ecological inheritance was high, the evolution of cooperation was promoted by the emerged environmental structure constructed by the evolved niche-constructing behavior. We also show that the condition for each scenario to occur depends on the settings of the payoff parameters as well as the degree of ecological inheritance.

scholarly journals Females prefer cooperative males even when cooperative behavior is unobserved: evidence from the mound-building mouse, Mus spicilegus

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Tognetti ◽  
Michel Raymond ◽  
Guila Ganem ◽  
Charlotte Faurie
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Mus Spicilegus ◽  
Pup Retrieval ◽  
Choice Tests ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors

AbstractTheoretical and empirical studies in humans suggest that cooperative behaviors may act as signals during mate choice. However, cooperation is not always observable by potential partners before mate choice. To address whether cooperative phenotypes are preferred based on cues different from cooperative behaviors per se, we designed an experimental paradigm using wild-born mound-building mice (Mus spicilegus), a species with biparental care. In this species, females cannot observe male cooperative behaviors: mate choice occurs in the spring, whereas mounds are cooperatively built in the fall. We first assessed the variation in mound building investment and identified males exhibiting high and low amounts of cooperation. Second, we presented these males to females during two-way choice tests. As offspring survival relies on mound protection, we hypothesized that mound building could be a form of paternal care and assessed whether cooperative males were more involved in offspring attendance using pup-retrieval experiments. Our results indicate that females were more attracted to highly cooperative males over less cooperative, even when they did not observe them build. This finding suggests that female mate choice is influenced either by cues of cooperativeness different than cooperative behaviors or by preferences for traits associated with cooperativeness. Moreover, male offspring attendance was negatively correlated with cooperativeness, suggesting the potential existence of two alternative paternal strategies in offspring care (mound building versus offspring attendance). Overall, our findings support the existence of preference for cooperative phenotypes in a non-human species and suggest that sexual selection might be involved in the evolution of cooperation.

The Prisoner's Dilemma Game and Cooperation in the Rat

1984 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 687-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick M. Gardner ◽  
Terry L. Corbin ◽  
Janelle S. Beltramo ◽  
Gary S. Nickell
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Visual Communication ◽  
Prisoner's Dilemma ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Prisoner’S Dilemma ◽  
The Other ◽  
Prisoner’S Dilemma Game ◽  
Prisoner's Dilemma Game ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors

Cooperation in pairs of rats playing the prisoner's dilemma game was investigated. Six pairs of animals were taught to make either cooperative or uncooperative responses by running to one or the other end of a T-maze. Two T-mazes were joined together such that animals could respond simultaneously. Animals were run under conditions in which visual communication was present and absent. Mutually uncooperative responses were the most common and mutually cooperative behaviors the least preferred. Introduction of a barrier between the mazes, which removed visual communication between pairs, sharply accentuated uncooperative behavior. Similarities of the present findings to results with human subjects and the implications of using game theory for studying cooperative behavior in animals are discussed.

The Creation and Validation of Active Cooperative Behavior Scales for Nurses

2021 ◽  
pp. JNM-D-20-00075
Author(s):  
Matthew Alexander ◽  
Kristin Alyssa Horan
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Active Listening ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Online Panel ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors ◽  
Acceptable Internal Consistency

Background and PurposeGeneral conflict management instruments are employed in healthcare settings despite their lack of focus on active and cooperative behaviors which are linked to positive outcomes. The purpose of this study is to create and validate active cooperative behavior scales for nurses.MethodsTwo convenience samples were collected via an online panel and a public registry of nurses to create and validate the new scales using factor analysis, and hierarchical regression in a nursing/healthcare sample.ResultsThe newly created active cooperative behavior scales (ACBS) showed acceptable internal consistency and explained more variance on job satisfaction than a commonly used compromising subscale.ConclusionsThe ACBS can assist currently practicing nurses and hospitals in identifying easily implementable behaviors, active listening, appropriate assertiveness, and brainstorming, that lead to effective conflict management.

Baumard et al.'s moral markets lack market dynamics

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. T. Fessler ◽  
Colin Holbrook
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Partner Choice ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Market Dynamics ◽  
Market Models

AbstractMarket models are indeed indispensable to understanding the evolution of cooperation and its emotional substrates. Unfortunately, Baumard et al. eschew market thinking in stressing the supposed invariance of moral/cooperative behavior across circumstances. To the contrary, humans display contingent morality/cooperation, and these shifts are best accounted for by market models of partner choice for mutually beneficial collaboration.

scholarly journals Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 785-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Kendal ◽  
Jamshid J. Tehrani ◽  
John Odling-Smee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Ecological Inheritance ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
The Social

Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by adding ecological inheritance , comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene–culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.

Punishment Leads to Cooperative Behavior in Structured Societies

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shade T. Shutters
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Computer Simulations ◽  
Degree Distribution ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Scale Free ◽  
Structured Population ◽  
Altruistic Punishment ◽  
Costly Punishment ◽  
Scale Free Networks

Altruistic punishment occurs when an agent incurs a cost to punish another but receives no material benefit for doing so. Despite the seeming irrationality of such behavior, humans in laboratory settings routinely pay to punish others even in anonymous, one-shot settings. Costly punishment is ubiquitous among social organisms in general and is increasingly accepted as a mechanism for the evolution of cooperation. Yet if it is true that punishment explains cooperation, the evolution of altruistic punishment remains a mystery. In a series of computer simulations I give agents the ability to punish one another while playing a continuous prisoner's dilemma. In simulations without social structure, expected behavior evolves—agents do not punish and consequently no cooperation evolves. Likewise, in simulations with social structure but no ability to punish, no cooperation evolves. However, in simulations where agents are both embedded in a social structure and have the option to inflict costly punishment, cooperation evolves quite readily. This suggests a simple and broadly applicable explanation of cooperation for social organisms that have nonrandom social structure and a predisposition to punish one another. Results with scale-free networks further suggest that nodal degree distribution plays an important role in determining whether cooperation will evolve in a structured population.

Can the Variation Be Explained Away?

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamler Sommers
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Empirical Assumption ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Social And Physical Environment

The success of defending universalist or objectivist theories of moral responsibility rests on a crucial empirical assumption. Specifically, the assumption that under ideal conditions of rationality human beings would come to share considered intuitions about moral responsibility regardless of their physical and social environment. This chapter raises serious doubts about the plausibility of this assumption by examining the origins of these intuitive differences and the psychological mechanisms that underlie them. It reviews recent theories in the evolution of cooperation, which suggest that a wide variety of norms may emerge as a response to the different features of a culture's social and physical environment. It then appeals to theories about the psychology of norm acquisition to argue that variation in norms about responsibility is grounded in cognitive mechanisms associated with emotional responses and intuitions about deservingness. It concludes that it is unlikely that we would ever reach agreement about the criteria of moral responsibility—even under ideal conditions of rationality.

scholarly journals Drought decreases cooperative sentinel behavior and affects vocal coordination in meerkats

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1558-1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Rauber ◽  
Tim H Clutton-Brock ◽  
Marta B Manser
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Drought Condition ◽  
Drought Period ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors

Abstract Cooperative breeding often evolved in harsh and arid habitats characterized by high levels of environmental uncertainty. Most forms of cooperative behavior have energetic costs and previous studies have shown that the contributions of individuals to alloparental provisioning are conditional on their food intake. However, the effect of naturally occurring, extreme environmental conditions on the persistence of costly forms of cooperative behaviors and their coordination by communication remain unknown. Here, we show that in meerkats (Suricata suricatta) the probability to act as sentinel, a cooperative vigilance behavior, was the same for typically occurring dry and wet conditions, but significantly reduced during a drought condition with almost no rain, especially in young individuals, members of small groups and groups with pups. The duration an individual stayed on sentinel guard, however, was most reduced during dry conditions. Besides reductions in sentinel behavior, the vocal coordination of foraging meerkats differed when comparing drought and wet conditions. Individuals responded more strongly to playbacks of sentinel “all-clear” calls and close calls, resulting in less vigilance and more foraging behavior during the drought condition. We conclude that while meerkats are adapted to commonly occurring dry periods with low rainfall, the extreme drought period with almost no rain, led to a decrease of the frequency of costly forms of cooperative behaviors in favor of behaviors that maximize direct fitness benefits and also affected the vocal coordination among group members.

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