Social comparison bias

Biological Parallel

Male side-blotched lizards adopt mating strategies based on local competitor frequency—orange-throated aggressors emerge when blues are common, blues thrive when yellows dominate, creating a rock-paper-scissors dynamic. Each morph's fitness depends entirely on social context, not absolute quality. Social comparison bias evolved because in frequency-dependent selection, relative performance within a local pool determines reproductive success—organisms evolved to calibrate self-assessment and strategy to immediate competitors, making social context dominate absolute ability in fitness outcomes.