Mice Cooperate if They Benefit
Thursday, May 12, 2016 - 14:30
in Psychology & Sociology
Four people meet for dinner in a restaurant and split the check four ways. Anyone who ordered more or something more expensive than the others gains an advantage from the situation. Social dilemmas like this one also occur in animals - such as during communal offspring care. Biologists from the University of Zurich studied how house mice are able to prevent social dilemmas and still cooperate. The results of their study reveal that house mice adjust their willingness to cooperate to the to the expected pay-off.