Editing Haidt 2012 (section)

=== Summary ===
Chapter 9 of ''The Righteous Mind'' by Jonathan Haidt delves into the concept of groupish behavior in human nature. Haidt argues that while individuals have selfish tendencies, they also possess a groupish overlay that promotes cooperation and working for the common good of a group. He presents evidence supporting the idea of group selection and highlights how competition between groups has shaped human behavior, leading to a mix of selfishness and selflessness in society. Haidt emphasizes that understanding human groupishness is essential for comprehending morality, politics, and religion, as it influences our behaviors and interactions with others.


'''Main Argument''': Groups that succeeded in coalescing and cooperating outcompeted groups that couldn’t get it together. This concept, called “group selection”, was falsely convicted and unfairly banished from scientific circles in the 1970s. Reason doesn’t drive morality, therefore it must be cultivated through evolutionary intuitions and learned behaviors we develop as children where we learn to apply these intuitions to our particular societal and cultural circumstances.

While humans are often selfish, and a lot of our behaviors can be traced back to motivations of self-interest, humans are also groupish. Humans love to take on group identities and work shoulder to shoulder under identities such as teams, clubs, leagues, and fraternities. Understanding groupism is key to understanding morality, politics, or religion.
When humans are said to be groupish, the author means that human minds contain several mental mechanisms that align with our group’s interests, in competition with other groups.
The author believes that while individuals competing with individuals rewards selfishness, groups also compete with groups. This requires some form of strategic cooperation, and winning teams have individuals that work for the good of the group even when they could do better by slacking, cheating, or leaving the group.