ABS 2023
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Cooperation Among Unequal Partners
Peter Bednekoff. Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, United States

Organisms often act together for mutual gain. I explore the situation when two partners differ in their ability to contribute to joint action, but payoffs are shared equally. An example could be parents that take turns bringing food to their young. The permanence of the pairing has a large effect on behavioral strategy. If permanently paired with a weaker partner, increasing contributions to compensate is the best available option. If an individual can expect many different partners within a lifetime, however, the highest payoff comes from lowering contributions when paired with a weaker partner and raising them when paired with a stronger one. Different assumptions about partner loss and replacement lead to different levels of cooperation with the current partner.