STRATEGY (Evolutionarily stable)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3218 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
A strategy which, if most members of a population adopt it, cannot be bettered by an alternative strategy“ (R. DAWKINS, 1978, p.74)
According to DAWKINS, this concept was introduced by J. MAYNARD SMITH.
DAWKINS explains it as follows: “… the best strategy for an individual depends on what the majority of the population are doing. Since the rest of the population consists of individuals, each one trying to maximize his own success, the only strategy that persists will be one which, once evolved, cannot be bettered by any deviant individual” (Ibid).
This is totally valid only in stable situations, as recognized by DAWKINS: “Following a major environmental change there may be a brief period of evolutionary instability, perhaps even oscillation in the population” (Ibid).
It should be observed that to speak of the evolutionary strategy of a population is somewhat semantically abusive. The individuals are more or less collectively subservient each one to all the others, in a statistical way: the global so-called strategy cannot be assigned to any specific entity; it remains diffuse within the population, and may be represented by a transitions probability matrix.