Other Statistics and Probability Commons^™

Simpson's Paradox Can Emerge From The N-Player Prisoner's Dilemma: Implications For The Evolution Of Altruistic Behavior, Jeffrey Alan Fletcher, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Simulations of the n-player Prisoner’s Dilemma in multiple populations reveal that Simpson’s paradox can emerge in such game-theoretic situations. The relative proportion of cooperators can decrease in each separate sub-population, while the proportion of cooperators in the total population can nonetheless increase, at least transiently. Factors that determine the longevity of this effect are under investigation. The increase of altruistic behavior exhibited in these simulations is not based on reciprocal altruism, as there are no strategies conditional on other players’ past actions, nor does it depend on kin selection via inclusive fitness, as there are no genes. This model is …