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The evolution of manipulative cheating

A social cheat is typically assumed to be an individual that does not perform a cooperative behaviour, or performs less of it, but can still exploit the cooperative behaviour of others. However, empirical data suggests that cheating can be more subtle, involving evolutionary arms races over the abil...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liu, Ming, West, Stuart Andrew, Wild, Geoff
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9633066/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36193888
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80611
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author Liu, Ming
West, Stuart Andrew
Wild, Geoff
author_facet Liu, Ming
West, Stuart Andrew
Wild, Geoff
author_sort Liu, Ming
collection PubMed
description A social cheat is typically assumed to be an individual that does not perform a cooperative behaviour, or performs less of it, but can still exploit the cooperative behaviour of others. However, empirical data suggests that cheating can be more subtle, involving evolutionary arms races over the ability to both exploit and resist exploitation. These complications have not been captured by evolutionary theory, which lags behind empirical studies in this area. We bridge this gap with a mixture of game-theoretical models and individual-based simulations, examining what conditions favour more elaborate patterns of cheating. We found that as well as adjusting their own behaviour, individuals can be selected to manipulate the behaviour of others, which we term ‘manipulative cheating’. Further, we found that manipulative cheating can lead to dynamic oscillations (arms races), between selfishness, manipulation, and suppression of manipulation. Our results can help explain both variation in the level of cheating, and genetic variation in the extent to which individuals can be exploited by cheats.
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spelling pubmed-96330662022-11-04 The evolution of manipulative cheating Liu, Ming West, Stuart Andrew Wild, Geoff eLife Evolutionary Biology A social cheat is typically assumed to be an individual that does not perform a cooperative behaviour, or performs less of it, but can still exploit the cooperative behaviour of others. However, empirical data suggests that cheating can be more subtle, involving evolutionary arms races over the ability to both exploit and resist exploitation. These complications have not been captured by evolutionary theory, which lags behind empirical studies in this area. We bridge this gap with a mixture of game-theoretical models and individual-based simulations, examining what conditions favour more elaborate patterns of cheating. We found that as well as adjusting their own behaviour, individuals can be selected to manipulate the behaviour of others, which we term ‘manipulative cheating’. Further, we found that manipulative cheating can lead to dynamic oscillations (arms races), between selfishness, manipulation, and suppression of manipulation. Our results can help explain both variation in the level of cheating, and genetic variation in the extent to which individuals can be exploited by cheats. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2022-10-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9633066/ /pubmed/36193888 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80611 Text en © 2022, Liu et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Evolutionary Biology
Liu, Ming
West, Stuart Andrew
Wild, Geoff
The evolution of manipulative cheating
title The evolution of manipulative cheating
title_full The evolution of manipulative cheating
title_fullStr The evolution of manipulative cheating
title_full_unstemmed The evolution of manipulative cheating
title_short The evolution of manipulative cheating
title_sort evolution of manipulative cheating
topic Evolutionary Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9633066/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36193888
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80611
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