Competitive Altruism - The Prisoner's Dilemma

The Prisoner's Dilemma

To relate this condition to the prisoner's dilemma, an individual may benefit the most in an one-time interaction with another by defecting (i.e. receiving benefits without incurring any cost to itself). However, in an iterated prisoner's dilemma, where individuals interact more than once, if the act of defecting makes the individual less likely to attract a fit mate in the future, then cooperative behavior will be selected for.

This selection for cooperation is even stronger if an individual's action in an interaction is observed by third-party individuals, for the possibility of forming a reputation arises. Amotz Zahavi, famous for his work with the altruistic Arabian babbler, suggests that this level of "social prestige" will affect which individuals interact with one another and how they behave.

Competitive altruism has been demonstrated repeatedly in studies with humans. For instance, individuals are more generous when their behaviour is visible to others and altruistic individuals receive more social status and are selectively preferred as collaboration partners and group leaders... Adding insights from sexual selection theory research has also found that men behave more altruistically in the presence of an (attractive) female and altruistic males are selectively preferred as long-term sexual partners.