Whitehouse (1997) set up fights between pairs of tiny spiders (Argyrodes antipodiana) that were matched for size. In each case, however, one of the two spiders had previously experienced a fight that it had won and the other had previously experienced a fight that it had lost. Whitehouse found that in 15 of the 17 pairs tested,
A) spiders that had experience as losers defeated their size-matched opponents, thus, failing to support the "assessor strategy" hypothesis.
B) spiders that had experience as losers won because they had been matched with larger opponents earlier, leading them to underestimate their abilities.
C) spiders that had experience as winners defeated their size-matched opponents.
D) spiders that had experience as winners lost because they had been matched with smaller opponents earlier, leading them to overestimate their abilities.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Whitehouse's experiment found that spiders with a previous winning experience were more likely to defeat their size-matched opponents, supporting the idea that prior victories can boost future performance, possibly due to increased confidence or aggression.

Whitehouse (1997) Set Up Fights Between Pairs of Tiny Spiders