Spite
Encyclopedia
In fair division
Fair division
Fair division, also known as the cake-cutting problem, is the problem of dividing a resource in such a way that all recipients believe that they have received a fair amount...

 problems, spite is a phenomenon that occurs when a player's value of an allocation decreases when one or more other players' valuation increases. Thus, other things being equal, a player exhibiting spite will prefer an allocation in which other players receive less than more (if more of the good is desirable).

In this language, spite is difficult to analyze because one has to assess two sets of preferences. For example, in the divide and choose
Divide and choose
In problems of fair division, divide and choose is a two-party proportional envy-free allocation protocol. The protocol also works for dividing an undesirable, as in chore division....

 method, a spiteful player would have to make a trade-off between depriving his opponent of cake, and getting more himself.

Within the field of social evolution
Social evolution
Social evolution is a subdiscipline of evolutionary biology that is concerned with social behaviors that have fitness consequences for individuals other than the actor...

, spite is used to describe those social behaviors that have a negative impact on both the actor and recipient(s). Spite can be favored by kin selection
Kin selection
Kin selection refers to apparent strategies in evolution that favor the reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even at a cost to the organism's own survival and reproduction. Charles Darwin was the first to discuss the concept of group/kin selection...

 when: (a) it leads to an indirect benefit to some third party that is sufficiently related to the actor (Wilsonian spite); or (b) when it is directed primarily at negatively-related individuals (Hamiltonian spite
Hamiltonian spite
Within the field of social evolution, Hamiltonian spite is a term for those behaviours that occur between conspecifics, and have a cost for the actor and a negative impact for the recipient. Why do animals and humans exhibit spiteful behaviours?-Theories on altruism and spitefulness:W. D...

). Negative relatedness occurs when two individuals are less related than average.

In game theory

The iterated prisoner's dilemma provides an example where players may "punish" each other for failing to cooperate in previous rounds, even if doing so would cause negative consequences for both players. For example, the simple "tit for tat
Tit for tat
Tit for tat is an English saying meaning "equivalent retaliation". It is also a highly effective strategy in game theory for the iterated prisoner's dilemma. It was first introduced by Anatol Rapoport in Robert Axelrod's two tournaments, held around 1980. An agent using this strategy will initially...

" strategy has been shown to be effective in round-robin tournaments of iterated prisoner's dilemma.

In industrial relations

There is always difficulty in fairly dividing the proceeds of a business between the business owners and the employees.

When a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 decides to call a strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

, both employer and the union members lose money (and may damage the national economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

). The unionists hope that the employer will give in to their demands before such losses have destroyed the business.

In the reverse direction, an employer may terminate the employment
Termination of employment
-Involuntary termination:Involuntary termination is the employee's departure at the hands of the employer. There are two basic types of involuntary termination, known often as being "fired" and "laid off." To be fired, as opposed to being laid off, is generally thought of to be the employee's...

 of certain productive workers who are agitating for higher wages or organising
Union organizer
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers....

a trade union. Losing productive workers is a setback to both the business and the employees but this can serve as an example to others and thus maximise employer power.
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