Deck 9: Cooperative Alliances

Question 1

One of the most important adaptive problems for the altruist is __________.

A)ensuring that the costs incurred could not be used more effectively elsewhere
B)ensuring that benefits bestowed will be returned in the future
C)ensuring that benefits bestowed might be returned in the future
D)ensuring that the costs incurred do not exceed the benefits that may be received in the future

Answer 1

ensuring that benefits bestowed will be returned in the future

Question 2

De Waal found that male chimpanzees often benefit from social alliances by ________________.

A)aligning themselves with lower-status males
B)exploiting changes in the structure of female hierarchies
C)soliciting relationships with females
D)creating social groups of eight or more

Answer 2

soliciting relationships with females

Question 3

A "gain in trade" is __________.

A)The scenario in which each party receives more in future returns than it costs to deliver the benefit
B)A benefit given to a provider in exchange for a benefit received earlier
C)A benefit given to a person in exchange for an assumed repayment in the future
D)The scenario in which one person receives an immediate benefit

Answer 3

The scenario in which each party receives more in future returns than it costs to deliver the benefit

Question 4

The tit for tat strategy involves __________.

A)cooperating on the first move,then reciprocating a partner's move for each move thereafter
B)defecting immediately
C)reciprocation on every other move
D)always cooperating

Question 5

Individuals in other cultures,such as the Shiwiar,do ____________ Harvard University undergraduates on Wason selection task problems.

A)much poorer than
B)much worse than
C)as well as
D)slightly better than

Question 6

The Wason selection task and modifications of it suggest that humans are good at ___________ but poor at ____________.

A)detecting cheaters in social exchange,abstract problems
B)detecting social status,determining the source of others' social status
C)estimating reproductive value,estimating mate value
D)reciprocal altruism,social exchange

Question 7

Social contract theory __________.

A)focuses on problems of reciprocal altruism but has a greater focus on kin relationships
B)was developed originally with chimpanzees but later applied to humans
C)was developed to explain cooperative exchange in humans with an emphasis on how humans have solved the adaptive problem of cheater detection
D)was developed to explain cooperative exchange in humans with an emphasis on how humans have solved the adaptive problem of alliance formation

Question 8

In which ways is the Prisoner's Dilemma artificial compared to everyday life?

A)Partners can opt out of the game;each partner knows in advance the strategy of the other.
B)Partners possess equal power to punish and reward;partners cannot communicate with one another.
C)Each partner knows in advance the strategy of the other;partners possess equal power to punish and reward.
D)Partners cannot communicate with one another;partners can opt out of the game .

Question 9

The only way reciprocal altruism can evolve is if __________.

A)organisms have mechanisms to detect and avoid cheaters
B)organisms avoid investing heavily in unrelated others
C)the resident social group consists of 50 to 200 individuals
D)most members of the population engage in some form of altruism

Question 10

The problem of altruism __________.

A)is a greater selective force than the problem of social exchange
B)does not imply the value of cheater detection in defining the evolution of mechanisms designed to guide altruistic acts
C)describes problems associated with how altruism among non-relatives could evolve given the selfish designs that aid in the reproduction of non-relatives at a cost to the altruist
D)describes problems associated with how altruism among collateral relatives could evolve given the selfish designs that aid in the reproduction of more closely related relatives at a cost to the altruist

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a means of promoting cooperation,as identified by Axelrod?

A)enlarge the shadow of the future
B)teach reciprocity
C)respond quickly to provocation
D)insist on more than equity

Question 12

Over evolutionary time,________will reproduce more than __________.

A)exclusive cooperators;exclusive cheaters
B)opportunistic cheaters;exclusive cooperators
C)men;women
D)women;men

Question 13

Axelrod and Hamilton found that the best strategy in the Prisoner's Dilemma was __________.

A)the most unlikely strategy to succeed
B)the Tattle strategy
C)the simplest strategy devised
D)the most complex strategy devised

Question 14

Which of the following was not a cognitive capacity that must have evolved to motivate forming social contracts and avoiding the threat of cheaters?

A)the ability to recognize many different individuals
B)the ability to communicate one's values to others
C)the ability to model the values of others
D)the ability to remember all aspects of the histories of interactions with different individuals

Question 15

The theory of reciprocal altruism __________.

A)defines the conditions under which mechanisms favoring altruism can evolve
B)states that psychological mechanisms for providing benefits to non-relatives can evolve as long as the delivery of such benefits is reciprocated at some point in the future
C)both (a)and (b)
D)neither (a)nor (b)

Question 16

The _____________ is a hypothetical situation in which two people are forced to weigh the costs and benefits of cooperation,temptations to defect,and punishment for mutual defection.

A)temptation to defect
B)reward for mutual cooperation
C)sucker's payoff
D)Prisoner's Dilemma

Question 17

Wilkinson discovered that vampire bats __________ regurgitate a portion of the blood they have sucked for ingestion by others.

A)do not
B)non-randomly
C)selectively
D)None of the above

Question 18

Social exchange is __________.

A)a form of cheater detection
B)a term used to describe the gamut of social relationships
C)a method designed to determine who is a cheater and who is an altruist
D)a form of cooperation

Question 19

If the Prisoner's Dilemma game is played only once,the best choice of action for a given player would be to __________.

A)defect
B)cooperate
C)tempt
D)behave altruistically

Question 20

Who developed social contract theory?

A)Axelrod
B)Hamilton
C)Cosmides and Tooby
D)Trivers

Question 21

People report _________ when they help others in need without insisting on,or expecting,any future reward.Shackelford and Buss found that this can be interpreted as a _____________.

A)feeling pleasure;a sign of friendship
B)being distrustful;psychological mechanism to deter future social interactions with this person
C)feeling pleasure;psychological mechanism designed to reward cooperation
D)feeling pride;psychological mechanism designed to reward cooperation

Question 22

Which of the following is NOT a strategy for increasing the odds of becoming irreplaceable,as discussed by Tooby and Cosmides?

A)promotion of reputation
B)cultivate specialized skills
C)seek out groups that reciprocate the attributes you offer
D)drive off threatening rivals who offer what you formerly did

Question 23

What is the hypothesized process by which transmitted ideas,beliefs and values spread because of the competitive advantages they provide to groups holding them?

A)sexual selection
B)meme selection
C)cultural group selection
D)strong reciprocity

Question 24

Among the Shuar in Ecuador,punishment is especially harsh toward in-group members who ______________________-even more than toward out-group members.

A)flaunted their cooperation
B)cooperated the most
C)were unable to cooperate
D)did not cooperate when they could

Question 25

Cooperative coalitions are __________.

A)groups of three or more individuals with the purpose of increasing the reproductive success of all members of the group
B)alliances of more than two individuals for the purpose of collective action to achieve a particular goal
C)alliances that are long-lasting and are characterized by mutual engagements among members
D)a group of several individuals with the goal of cooperating to achieve one member's goal

Question 26

Costly signaling refers to __________.

A)signals to potential social allies that you are a costly partner because you require a greater than average amount of reciprocation
B)an incapability of investment because the costs you incur exceed the benefits you are capable of bestowing
C)altruism that is not costly but yields a signal to others that he or she is willing to invest
D)altruism that is costly to the provider and thereby yields honest signals to others regarding one's quality as a coalitional ally

Question 27

Price found that __________.

A)previous or current involvement in the military was the best predictor of punitive sentiments towards participation in a cooperative coalition
B)defection from groups is a greater adaptive problem than free riding
C)the best predictor of punitive sentiments was the degree of a person's own participation in a cooperative coalition
D)the less a person was willing to participate in an activity,the more that person wanted to punish those who could have participated but refused to do so

Question 28

Which of the following group members should feel most threatened by a new male group member who is very attractive and exceptionally good at telling jokes?

A)the engineer
B)the girl next door
C)the alpha male
D)the class clown

Question 29

Successful performance on cheater detection tasks is _______________ successful performance on altruist detection tasks.

A)not linked to
B)greater than
C)less than
D)the same as

Question 30

The banker's paradox is a term that implies that __________.

A)resources are limited and should be invested judiciously
B)those who need money the most are least likely to receive money and those that need it the least are the most likely to receive money
C)those who need money the most are most likely to receive money and those that need it the least are the least likely to receive money
D)those who are less needy are less valuable social allies than those who are more needy

Question 31

Tooby and Cosmides argue that selection should fashion assessment mechanisms that make differentiations between __________.

A)concern over welfare and appreciation of benefits
B)fair-weather friends and true friends
C)beneficial friends and costly friends
D)ecological conditions for reciprocating and the benefits of deferring investment

Question 32

Friendship niches refer to __________.

A)the adaptive problem of determining what characteristics one must obtain to occupy a specific niche
B)the adaptive problem of deciding how many friends occupy different niches and terminating as friends those that occupy more than one slot
C)the adaptive problem of deciding how many slots are available in the group
D)the adaptive problem of deciding who will fill limited friendship slots

Question 33

The indirect reciprocity theory explains __________.

A)the ability of all humans to interact with and benefit from others
B)a diminished capacity to attract altruists through a damaged reputation
C)a motivation to exploit a partner who is cooperating
D)an altruistic act towards a complete stranger especially when others are watching

Question 34

Memory for cheaters may be heightened because __________.

A)of their rarity in the population
B)they tend to be young women
C)they tend to be young men
D)the ability to cheat and get away with it is an attractive quality in a mate

Question 35

In order for cooperative coalitions to emerge,individuals must be able to solve all of the following adaptive problems EXCEPT __________.

A)coordinating individuals toward a common goal
B)detecting altruistic members
C)imposing group obligations on members
D)punishing free riders

Question 36

Gigerenzer and Hug found that ___________ governs the types of cheaters for which one looks.

A)one's social experience
B)one's point of view
C)one's sex
D)one's age

Question 37

Bleske and Buss found that ________ evaluated the potential for sexual access to their opposite-sex friends as _________beneficial.

A)men;more
B)women;more
C)both men and women;equally
D)both men and women;not

Question 38

Brown proposed that humans have an adaptation that allows them to __________.

A)examine the reproductive value of children to determine where investment is most beneficially spent
B)assess the genuineness of an altruistic act
C)assess a cheater's intentions to reciprocate
D)assess an altruist's motives for bestowing benefits

Question 39

Which of the following has been demonstrated about punitive sentiments?

A)Observing an unfair game player receiving physical pain activates the brain's reward centers.
B)People who do the punishing and remain anonymous to the person being punished tend to punish cooperators more often.
C)The reward centers in women's brains tend to show higher activation levels in response to witnessing punishment than the reward centers in men's brains.
D)Younger men tend to punish female non-cooperators more than older men.

Question 40

A ___________ person is more vulnerable to desertion than is someone who is ____________.

A)Replaceable;irreplaceable
B)Irreplaceable;replaceable
C)Altruistic;a cheater
D)Young;an elderly person

Question 41

Which of the following has been identified as a potential facial cue to altruistic tendencies?

A)eyebrow raises
B)large eyes
C)femininity
D)genuine smiles

Question 42

Indirect reciprocity theory explains our tendency to behave altruistically __________.

A)toward cousins and other distant relatives
B)in situations where both we and the target benefit from the act
C)when the target of our altruism cannot reciprocate
D)none of the above

Question 43

Men's same-sex friendships appear to be designed to be more _________ than women's.

A)antagonistic
B)costly
C)intimate
D)task-based

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT true of our cognitive mechanisms related to cheater detection?

A)Being primed with thoughts of an experience in which one was cheated causes individuals to detect cheaters more effectively.
B)People show heightened memory for cheaters,but this does not result in behavioral changes during economic games.
C)People show enhanced source memory for cheaters' faces.
D)People remember the faces of low-status cheaters better than the faces of cooperators.

Question 45

According to the alliance hypothesis,which of the following would be the most valuable friend?

A)the highest-ranking individual in the social hierarchy
B)the lowest-ranking individual in the social hierarchy
C)an individual who highly values you as a friend
D)your most attractive same-sex peer

Question 46

According to costly signaling theory,how does context affect our altruistic tendencies?

A)When engaging in an altruistic act,we tend toward the least costly option regardless of context.
B)When behaving altruistically anonymously,we are more likely to choose a low-cost option.
C)In the presence of strangers,we do not behave altruistically.
D)When volunteering publically,we typically choose the least costly option.

Question 47

The mere presence of ___________ is sufficient to increase the punishment of non-cooperators.

A)one witness
B)a punishment cost
C)a hunting-related cue
D)high-tempo music

Question 48

Studies have documented that their participants pay more attention to,and better remember,faces of people who actually cheated in the past-even when the participant is unaware of whether the target individual cheated or not.This implies that __________.

A)people who cheat look different than people who cooperate
B)people who cheat are more attractive than people who cooperate
C)people have a difficult time discerning cheaters from cooperators when they are aware of whether the target cheated or not
D)people are afraid to consciously identify cheaters

Question 49

Which of the following as been hypothesized to underlie the differences documented between how men and women approach same-sex friendships?

A)women's tendency to mate exogamously
B)men's higher frequency of homosexuality
C)men's relatively higher paternal investment than other mammalian species
D)all of the above

Question 50

Benefits of costly signaling include __________.

A)increased status
B)increased cooperation from group members
C)higher quality mating opportunities
D)all of the above