Reciprocity creates a stake in one's partner, or why you should cooperate even when anonymous.

ABSTRACT: Why do we care so much for friends, even making sacrifices for them they cannot repay or never know about? When organisms engage in reciprocity, they have a stake in their partner's survival and wellbeing so the reciprocal relationship can persist. This stake (aka fitness interdependence) makes organisms willing to help beyond the existing reciprocal arrangement (e.g. anonymously). I demonstrate this with two mathematical models in which organisms play a prisoner's dilemma, and where helping keeps their partner alive and well. Both models shows that reciprocity creates a stake in partners' welfare: those who help a cooperative partner--even when anonymous--do better than those who do not, because they keep that cooperative partner in good enough condition to continue the reciprocal relatio

SUBMITTER: Barclay P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7329032 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature