PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Inclusive Fitness

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Altruist- a person unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others. Inclusive fitness- reproductive success of those who share common genes. Ex- a cat that ate her kittens reduced her inclusive fitness, while a cat that sacrificed herself to save her kittens increased it. Animal nepotism: animals have often been observed to act not only to increase their own fitness but also to avoid reducing the fitness of their relatives, beliefs about kinship may also be important in how we judge others" actions. Other group-living primates, such as vervet monkeys, are aware of which individuals are related to each other and use this information in interacting with non-kin. For example, fitness-reducing behaviours such as infanticide and intragroup aggression occur between non-kin but not kin vervet monkeys. Reciprocal altruism- altruism in which people behave altruistically toward one another because they are confident that such acts will be reciprocated toward either them or their kin.