Game theory is the study of strategic interaction between two separate decision makers. Evolutionary game theory is communicated in the context of biology and the interaction between two animals for a valuable resource. This particular game theory is used to determine which behavioral strategy, among a series, is likely to evolve in a species. To understand the behavior of the two separate species it is important to ask when individuals should cooperate or not and when should an individual be dominant versus submissive. An example of evolutionary game theory can be seen when hawks and doves compete for food. Each animal has to decide how they should behave to maximize their fitness; should they share the resource or should they fight? A hawk will first show aggression and escalate until it wins or is injured. A dove will first show aggression and then retreat if faced with escalation. This relationship can be communicated mathematically. First, the variables must be defined. V = value of resources, C = cost of losing a fight, and a value of 0 represents no reward. If a hawk and dove are in competition, the dove will leave the interaction with a value of zero. If a hawk competes with another hawk, the interaction can be represented with the equation: (V-C)/2. The value of resources minus the cost of losing the fight is divided by two because half of the time one hawk will win and half of the time the other hawk will win. If a dove is in competition with a dove, it will be represented as V/2, because they will share the resource.
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