Modeling the evolution of winner and loser effects: A survey and prospectus.

The evolution of winner or loser effects-higher probabilities of winning after winning or of losing after losing-has received remarkably little attention from theoreticians, even though such effects are widespread across the animal kingdom. We review game-theoretic models that regard such winner and loser effects as outcomes of a strategic response. We show that these models have been well supported by the empirical literature in the past, but are not designed to address some recent observations. In the light of this recent progress on the empirical front, we identify factors that newer theory must be developed to explore.