… and it turns out the behavior researchers have done exactly that kind of test; they call it testing for “linearity”. Indeed, they’ve done it many many times over, with several different operationalizations of the statistics, in a whole slew of species.
This thread makes it seem like rock-paper-scissors “pecking order” is not that uncommon, at least among r/BackYardChickens subreddit participants.
I have a moderately-anti-status-ladders-per-se-being-important discussion in §2.5.1 here.
I think every part of your post where you rely on the existence of a strict status ladder, could be lightly rephrased to not rely on that, without any substantive change.
Once pointed out, that also sounds like how human status tends to work! The new hire at the company, the new kid at school, the new member to the social group, the visitor at another’s house… all these people typically have very low dominance-status, at least within their new context.
I think it comes from being more confident / comfortable in a familiar environment. There’s some game theory at play, see §2.5.4 here.
This thread makes it seem like rock-paper-scissors “pecking order” is not that uncommon, at least among r/BackYardChickens subreddit participants.
I have a moderately-anti-status-ladders-per-se-being-important discussion in §2.5.1 here.
I think every part of your post where you rely on the existence of a strict status ladder, could be lightly rephrased to not rely on that, without any substantive change.
I think it comes from being more confident / comfortable in a familiar environment. There’s some game theory at play, see §2.5.4 here.