Question

Describe what it means for interactions to be selfish by using the concepts of actor and recipient.

Answer 1

Social behaviours are those which have fitness consequences for both the individual that performs the behaviour, and another individual on which this has effect.According to experts like Hamilton,there are different types of behaviours like mutualism,altruism,selfishness,group selection etc..

Actor is the focal individual who performs a particular behaviour. Recipient is an individual who is affected by the behaviour of the focal individual(Actor).

Selfishness is a kind of behaviour which is beneficial to the actor and costly to the recipient.It is a kind of + and - relationship.A typical example for Selfishness : In birds, females sometimes exhibit egg-dumping behaviour or intraspecific brood parasitism ( laying of eggs in nests of other pairs, thus parasitizing their parental care).It is the one seen in cuckoo and crow interaction,where cuckoo (actor) is benefited while it is costly to the crow(recipient). Selfish acts will be directed preferentially toward closer relatives only when recipients can resist and that resistance to selfish acts offered by recipients should decrease as their relatedness to the actor increases.

Humans and other mammals, have an evolved caregiving system that promotes and motivates caring for their young, who are incapable of surviving on their own.This is a kind of self-centered behaviour.Selfish motivation is the wanting or striving to benefit the self without regard for the well-being of others.It occurs in social contexts where behaviors have direct or indirect consequences for others' well-being.