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Effect of Resource Availability on Dyadic Fitness
College students participating in dyads played a game designed as an analog of early hunters whose survival, as a dyad and ultimately individually, depend on rabbits they hunt. Dyadic fitness was defined as both participants being able to hunt and it was measured by the proportion of trials in a condition that both participants hunted. The effects of scarcity (alternating rich and poor conditions) on dyadic fitness were examined in two experiments. First experiment results did not show a difference in dyadic fitness as a function of the independent variable. The second experiment increased the number of hunting seasons and also the discrepancy between scarcity in rich and poor seasons. Second experiment results show that dyads start fit in rich seasons and become increasingly fit in poor seasons. External variables could not be ruled out; therefore, additional experiments still need to be carried out to clarify results
Effect of Resource Scarcity on Dyadic Fitness in a Simulation of Two-Hunter Nomoclones
Two experiments were conducted in a college where
students in dyads participated in a simulation of hunters
who were required to share prey in order to maintain
dyadic (group) fitness. The sharing was an interlocking
behavioral contingency contributing to survival of the
dyad, conceptualized as a hunting nomoclone (Harris,
1964). The simulation comprised 6 consecutive hunting
seasons in which the antecedent variable of prey scarcity
was manipulated as the independent variable. Results of the
first experiment did not show a difference in dyadic fitness
as a function of prey scarcity. In the second experiment
the difference between poor and rich conditions was
increased. In rich conditions, all the dyads performed
similarly to those in the first experiment. However, in
successive poor conditions, dyads started out less fit
and became increasingly fit. Thus, sharing IBCs were
more difficult to form under significant scarcity, but
they became more frequent over time. The experiment
is discussed in the context of Skinner�s view (1981)
about cultures evolution, Harris�s (1964) taxonomy of
cultural things, and Glenn�s (1988, 2004) formulation of
metacontingencies.Se condujeron dos experimentos en una Universidad en la
cual díadas de estudiantes participaron en una simulación
de cazadores que debían compartir su presa para mantener
la adaptabilidad diádica (grupal). El compartir era una
contingencia conductual entrelazada que contribuía a
la supervivencia de la díada, conceptualizada como un
nomoclón de cacería (Harris, 1964). La simulación incluyó
seis temporadas de caza consecutivas en las cuales la
variable antecedente de la escasez de presas fue manipulada
como variable independiente. Los resultados del primer
experimento no mostraron diferencias en la adaptabilidad
diádica como función de la escasez de presas. En el segundo
experimento, la diferencia entre condiciones de pobreza y
riqueza se aumentó. En las condiciones de riqueza, todas
las díadas se desempeñaron de forma similar a las del
primer experimento. Sin embargo, en las condiciones de
sucesiva pobreza, las díadas comenzaron menos adaptadas
pero aumentaron su adaptabilidad progresivamente. De
este modo, compartir contingencias entrelazadas fue más
difícil en condiciones menos significativas de escasez, pero
las mismas se hicieron más frecuentes con el tiempo. El
experimento se discute a la luz de la visión de Skinner (1981)
sobre la evolución cultural, la taxonomía de cosas culturales
de Harris (1964) y la formulación de metacontingencias
de Glenn (1988, 2004)