| Evolutionary game theory (EGT) is the application of game theory in
evolutionary biology.
EGT studies the dynamics and equilibria of games played by populations of players. The
strategies players employ in the games determine their interdependent payoff or
fitness. In contrast with the traditional applications of game theory, the players do not act rationally when
choosing their strategies, but act instead according to a pre-programmed behavior
pattern. A pure strategy is encoded in an individual's genome, which can evolve over time while repeatedly playing a game against other players in a population. The
more successful strategies result in more offspring and the game is then iterated and studied.
Recently, evolutionary game theory has increasingly become of interest to economists, sociologists, and anthropologists, as well as philosophers. In these expanded contexts, the ‘evolution’ treated by EGT can refer to systems such
as cultural evolution or economic behavior.
The common methodology to study the evolutionary dynamics in games is through replicator equations. Replicator equations assume infinite
populations, continuous time, complete mixing and that strategies breed true.
The attractors (stable fixed points) of the equations are equivalent with
evolutionarily stable strategies.
References
External links
|
