Essay On Reciprocal Altruism
The Conflict of Reciprocal Altruism and Cooperation
Reciprocal altruism is where an organism behaves in a way or manner that decreases its own fitness, survival and reproductive success, and increases the fitness of another organism with the expectation that the individual acted upon with altruistic behaviors will return the favor in a later situation that calls for such actions. Reciprocal altruism increases the altruism due to its continuous reciprocation and return, just like a “never-ending” cycle (Trivers 1971). In nature, there exists the conflict of competition between beings for survival. These individuals fight to survive and fight to produce offspring, in other words, these organisms fight for fitness. However, with this intense competition …show more content…
In an environment with just a group of individuals who are close relatives or kin, altruism and cooperation can increase their fitness due to genetics. If an organism performs a selfless act, this can benefit their other relatives by increasing their fitness of the genes that they share in their genepool (Hamilton 1963). With reciprocal altruism there lies this idea of manipulation to urge the return of the favor. This idea is utilized in an environment of organisms who are not related. Reciprocal Altruism does not quite work to increase fitness of genes, the organisms are manipulated by punishment. If a being takes advantage of the altruistic behavior and gains they uptake without returning or “reciprocating” an altruistic action, they can be punished. By the use of reinforcements, they are being manipulated to return the favor and keep the continuous cycle of reciprocal altruism moving (Trivers 1971). In addition, the concept of indirect reciprocity is also a factor. This reciprocity is completing the idea of returning a favor, but not for the true means of being altruistic due to the fact that those who reciprocate will only reciprocate with those also have a “good image score” rather than those who will not reciprocate who have a “bad image score,” otherwise known as
Reciprocal altruism is where an organism behaves in a way or manner that decreases its own fitness, survival and reproductive success, and increases the fitness of another organism with the expectation that the individual acted upon with altruistic behaviors will return the favor in a later situation that calls for such actions. Reciprocal altruism increases the altruism due to its continuous reciprocation and return, just like a “never-ending” cycle (Trivers 1971). In nature, there exists the conflict of competition between beings for survival. These individuals fight to survive and fight to produce offspring, in other words, these organisms fight for fitness. However, with this intense competition …show more content…
In an environment with just a group of individuals who are close relatives or kin, altruism and cooperation can increase their fitness due to genetics. If an organism performs a selfless act, this can benefit their other relatives by increasing their fitness of the genes that they share in their genepool (Hamilton 1963). With reciprocal altruism there lies this idea of manipulation to urge the return of the favor. This idea is utilized in an environment of organisms who are not related. Reciprocal Altruism does not quite work to increase fitness of genes, the organisms are manipulated by punishment. If a being takes advantage of the altruistic behavior and gains they uptake without returning or “reciprocating” an altruistic action, they can be punished. By the use of reinforcements, they are being manipulated to return the favor and keep the continuous cycle of reciprocal altruism moving (Trivers 1971). In addition, the concept of indirect reciprocity is also a factor. This reciprocity is completing the idea of returning a favor, but not for the true means of being altruistic due to the fact that those who reciprocate will only reciprocate with those also have a “good image score” rather than those who will not reciprocate who have a “bad image score,” otherwise known as