PSYC 472 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: House Finch, Positive Feedback, Evolutionarily Stable Strategy
Document Summary
Sender attribute and signal size/intensity are linearly related (the more of an attribute the sender has, the more intense the signal will be) Size: if you are bigger, you will appear bigger (visual cue) Call frequency in toads as index for body size (the lower the call the bigger their body; can"t be faked due to the way sound waves work) Prey have an advantage if they signal to the predator that they have detected them, because predator is more likely to catch prey that has not detected them. Ground squirrel tail-wagging used to drive predatory snakes away (adults not in danger, but their young are, so adults caution snakes that they have been detected and are better off going to a different prey) Zahavi handicap: to maintain honesty, signals need costs (e. g. animals pay for their ornaments with fitness costs)
