33. Evolutionary Game Theory: Fighting and Contests

Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB 122)

The economic concept of game theory can be readily applied to evolution and behavior. By analyzing encounters between organisms as a mathematical "game," important information such as fitness payoffs and the proportions of "strategies" played by each group within a population can be inferred. While oftentimes these games are too simplified to apply directly to actual examples in nature, they are still useful models that help convey important concepts.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction
03:58 - Chapter 2. Background to Game Theory
09:49 - Chapter 3. The Hawk-Dove Game
21:43 - Chapter 4. The Prisoner's Dilemma
29:18 - Chapter 5. Contextual Biological Examples
40:48 - Chapter 6. Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.