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Parochial altruism in humans
Helen Bernhard1, Urs Fischbacher, Ernst Fehr
1University of Zurich, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Blumlisalpstrasse 10, CH-8006 Zurich, Switzerland.
Nature
|August 25, 2006
Summary
Social norms guide cooperation but are influenced by parochialism, favoring one's own group. Experiments show punishers protect ingroup victims more, leading to more norm violations within groups.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Evolutionary Biology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Social norms and altruistic behaviors are crucial for human cooperation and social order.
- Norm compliance and enforcement are often linked to inter-group conflicts and parochialism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of parochialism on social norm enforcement in indigenous groups.
- To test predictions of parochialism in the context of norm violations and punishment.
Main Methods:
- Conducted punishment experiments with indigenous groups in Papua New Guinea.
- Utilized 'impartial' observers to punish norm violators, varying group affiliations.
Main Results:
- Punishers disproportionately protected ingroup victims over outgroup victims.
- Norm violators anticipated leniency from same-group punishers.
- Norm violations occurred more frequently when punishers and violators belonged to the same group.
Conclusions:
- Experimental results confirm the prediction of parochialism in norm enforcement.
- Findings challenge existing evolutionary theories based solely on group extinction or individual selection.
- Emphasizes the need to incorporate inter-group interactions into evolutionary models of social behavior.
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