Humans have many biases that affect how we act. One of these, the self-bias, makes us like, value, and work harder at actions when we will benefit, compared to actions that benefit other people. However, a big question is whether this self-bias is actually helpful or harmful? Does it mean we make better decisions, or does it lead us to make poor choices because we get too excited about the big reward we can get for ourselves?
A recent study turned to a powerful theory from animal behaviour to try and answer that question. The theory is called the Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) and can explain how animals get so good at making decisions when foraging for food. In the study, Contreras-Huerta and colleagues used this theory to design a study that showed that self-bias makes us better at making decisions for our own benefit.
How do you decide when a job or a relationship is not working out, and move on to a new opportunity? Knowing when to leave can be tricky in many of these contexts. The same dilemma is present in animals looking or ‘foraging’ for food, such as a squirrel collecting berries from bushes. Survival depends on this ability to gather rewards, and to do it efficiently, and indeed animals are often quite close to being optimal at making these decisions in the way that gathers the most food.
To make decisions accurately, an animal has to think about three key features about how food is spread across the environments where they are foraging. Firstly, not all food locations (known as patches) are equal, for example some bushes have more berries than others. Secondly, the more of the food you collect in a patch, the less there is left in it. This means that over time the........