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To construct an optimality model, the behavior must first be clearly defined. Then, descriptions of how the costs and benefits vary with the way the behavior is performed must be obtained. [1] Examples of benefits and costs include direct fitness measures like offspring produced, change in lifespan, time spent or gained, or energy spent and gained.
The majority of costly signaling explanations involve behaviors that broadcast beneficial traits about oneself to others. [17] In many instances, these signals are expected to be directed towards potential mates, with males often thought to benefit more from such signaling due to their relatively low levels of investment in offspring leading to greater fitness benefits in having multiple partners.
Social exchange theory is a sociological and psychological theory that studies the social behavior in the interaction of two parties that implement a cost-benefit analysis to determine risks and benefits.
Examples include porcupine quills, the palatability and digestibility of the poison dart frog, crypsis, and other predator avoidance behaviors. In addition, because toxins may be present in many prey types, predators include a lot of variability in their diets to prevent any one toxin from reaching dangerous levels.
The use of rational choice theory as a framework to predict political behavior has led to a rich literature that describes the trajectory of policy to varying degrees of success. For example, some scholars have examined how states can make credible threats to deter other states from a (nuclear) attack. [21]
The Tullock paradox is the apparent paradox, described by economist Gordon Tullock, on the low costs of rent-seeking relative to the gains from rent-seeking. [11] [12] The paradox is that rent-seekers wanting political favors can bribe politicians at a cost much lower than the value of the favor to the rent-seeker.
For example, for some individuals, the pain from losing $1,000 could only be compensated by the pleasure of earning $2,000. Thus, contrary to the expected utility theory (which models the decision that perfectly rational agents would make), prospect theory aims to describe the actual behavior of people.
However, altruistic behavior – the act of helping others even if it accompanies with a personal cost – is common in the animal kingdom, like the vampire bat [7] and various primates. [8] Therefore, Charles Darwin regarded ″the Problem of Altruism″ as a potential fatal challenge to his concept of natural selection.