The evolution of extreme cooperation via shared dysphoric experiences
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23327883 |
|---|---|
| Authors | H Whitehouse (0000-0001-6935-6724, University of Oxford), Jonathan Jong (0000-0002-8039-9298, University of Oxford), Michael D Buhrmester (0000-0002-9892-3334, University of Oxford), Antonio Gomez (0000-0002-4287-4916, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia), Ángel Gómez, Brock Bastian (0000-0003-4619-3322, The University of Melbourne), Colleen Kavanagh (0000-0001-7545-8137, University of Oxford), Christopher M Kavanagh (0000-0001-9952-9147), Martha Newson (0000-0001-7700-9562, University of Oxford), Miriam Matthews (RAND Corporation), Jonathan A Lanman (0000-0002-4691-5922, Queen's University Belfast), Ryan Mckay (0000-0001-7781-1539, Royal Holloway University of London), Gavrilet (0000-0003-1581-4018, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, corresponding author), Sergey Gavrilets |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 44292-44292 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scientific Reports (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2045-2322 • E-ISSN: 2045-2322 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1038/srep44292 |
| PMID | 28290499 |
| OpenAlex | W2604691385 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 75 |
| References cited | 62 |
Willingness to lay down one’s life for a group of non-kin, well documented historically and ethnographically, represents an evolutionary puzzle. Building on research in social psychology, we develop a mathematical model showing how conditioning cooperation on previous shared experience can allow individually costly pro-group behavior to evolve. The model generates a series of predictions that we then test empirically in a range of special sample populations (including military veterans, college fraternity/sorority members, football fans, martial arts practitioners, and twins). Our empirical results show that sharing painful experiences produces “identity fusion” – a visceral sense of oneness – which in turn can motivate self-sacrifice, including willingness to fight and die for the group. Practically, our account of how shared dysphoric experiences produce identity fusion helps us better understand such pressing social issues as suicide terrorism, holy wars, sectarian violence, gang-related violence, and other forms of intergroup conflict.
Aesthetics · Collective identity · Fraternity · Identity (music) · Ingroups and outgroups · Martial arts · Political science · Politics · Prosocial behavior · Sacrifice · Social group · Social identity theory · Sociology · Terrorism · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · History · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 75 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8,33 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 64 |