Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game
Human cooperation, occurring without reciprocation and between unrelated individuals in large populations, represents an evolutionary puzzle. One potential explanation is that cooperative behaviour may be transmitted between individuals via social learning. Using an online social dilemma experiment,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Games |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/12/4/89 |
| _version_ | 1827672281113952256 |
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| author | Robin Watson Thomas J. H. Morgan Rachel L. Kendal Julie Van de Vyver Jeremy Kendal |
| author_facet | Robin Watson Thomas J. H. Morgan Rachel L. Kendal Julie Van de Vyver Jeremy Kendal |
| author_sort | Robin Watson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human cooperation, occurring without reciprocation and between unrelated individuals in large populations, represents an evolutionary puzzle. One potential explanation is that cooperative behaviour may be transmitted between individuals via social learning. Using an online social dilemma experiment, we find evidence that participants’ contributions were more consistent with payoff-biased transmission than prestige-biased transmission or conformity. We also found some evidence for lower cooperation (i) when exposed to social information about peer cooperation levels than without such information, and (ii) in the prisoners’ dilemma game compared to the snowdrift game. A simulation model established that the observed cooperation was more likely to be caused by participants’ general propensity to cooperate than by the effect of social learning strategies employed within the experiment, but that this cooperative propensity could be reduced through selection. Overall, our results support previous experimental evidence indicating the role of payoff-biased transmission in explaining cooperative behaviour, but we find that this effect was small and was overwhelmed by participants’ general propensity for cooperation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:04:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-551d5da26e904540a712df2c554ffd8f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4336 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:04:14Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Games |
| spelling | doaj.art-551d5da26e904540a712df2c554ffd8f2023-11-23T08:26:48ZengMDPI AGGames2073-43362021-11-011248910.3390/g12040089Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma GameRobin Watson0Thomas J. H. Morgan1Rachel L. Kendal2Julie Van de Vyver3Jeremy Kendal4Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Anthropology Department, Durham DH1 3LE, UKSchool of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 South Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USADurham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Anthropology Department, Durham DH1 3LE, UKPsychology Department, Durham University, Upper Mountjoy, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UKDurham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Anthropology Department, Durham DH1 3LE, UKHuman cooperation, occurring without reciprocation and between unrelated individuals in large populations, represents an evolutionary puzzle. One potential explanation is that cooperative behaviour may be transmitted between individuals via social learning. Using an online social dilemma experiment, we find evidence that participants’ contributions were more consistent with payoff-biased transmission than prestige-biased transmission or conformity. We also found some evidence for lower cooperation (i) when exposed to social information about peer cooperation levels than without such information, and (ii) in the prisoners’ dilemma game compared to the snowdrift game. A simulation model established that the observed cooperation was more likely to be caused by participants’ general propensity to cooperate than by the effect of social learning strategies employed within the experiment, but that this cooperative propensity could be reduced through selection. Overall, our results support previous experimental evidence indicating the role of payoff-biased transmission in explaining cooperative behaviour, but we find that this effect was small and was overwhelmed by participants’ general propensity for cooperation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/12/4/89cooperationprisoner’s dilemmasnowdriftsocial learningcultural evolutionpayoff |
| spellingShingle | Robin Watson Thomas J. H. Morgan Rachel L. Kendal Julie Van de Vyver Jeremy Kendal Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game Games cooperation prisoner’s dilemma snowdrift social learning cultural evolution payoff |
| title | Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game |
| title_full | Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game |
| title_fullStr | Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game |
| title_short | Social Learning Strategies and Cooperative Behaviour: Evidence of Payoff Bias, but Not Prestige or Conformity, in a Social Dilemma Game |
| title_sort | social learning strategies and cooperative behaviour evidence of payoff bias but not prestige or conformity in a social dilemma game |
| topic | cooperation prisoner’s dilemma snowdrift social learning cultural evolution payoff |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/12/4/89 |
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