Haidt 2012

Haidt Ch. 9: Why Are We So Groupish?

Exhibit A: Major Transitions in Evolution

• Life on Earth underwent a “major transition” around 2 billion years ago
  • Cells became more complex–developed internal organelles which worked together instead of competing
  • Single-celled eukaryotes spread throughout the oceans
• A few hundred million years later: some eukaryotes develop ability to stay together after cell division and form multicellular organisms
  • Also suppresses competition because each cell only reproduces if the organism as a whole reproduces
• Whenever a way to suppress free-riding emerges, natural selection at the higher level wins out over selection at the lower level
  • Favors most cohesive “superorganisms”
• Fittest groups pass on their traits
  • Genes created selfless group members which constituted a selfish group
• Groups used new forms of technological innovation
• Some groups are ultrasocial: live in very large groups with internal structure around division of labor
  • One key feature: need to defend a shared nest
  • Two other features: need to feed offspring and intergroup conflict
  • These three factors applied to humans
• Group selection leads to group related adaptations

Exhibit B: Shared Intentionality

• Chimpanzees rarely work together
• In an experiment conducted on chimps and human toddlers, both did equally well on assigned tasks, but chimps failed social challenges whereas children aced them
• Humans developed shared intentionality: work together to overcome challenges or towards a common goal
  • Increased early humans’ ability to hunt, gather, raise children, and raid others
• Tomasello: human ultrasociality arose in two steps
  1. Ability to share intentions in groups of 2-3
  2. Natural selection favored group-mindedness: shared social norms, beliefs, institutions, goals, etc.
  • Created selection pressures within groups
• Humans’ “shared defensible nest” is our moral communities

Exhibit C: Genes and Cultures Coevolve

• Only around 600,000-700,000 years ago where hominids began to cross over into shared intentionality
  • Most likely Homo heidelbergensis that made this cross
• Richerson and Boyd argue that cultural innovations evolve similarly to biological ones; you can’t study one without studying the other
  • Thus, cultural innovations around morality might have led to genetic responses, ultimately leading to ultrasociality
• “Tribal instincts hypothesis”: human groups have always been competing with neighboring groups
  • Groups with cultural innovations that allowed them to cohere better usually won
• Example: body modifications like tattoos and piercings might have started off as a way to establish a sense of community by creating a physical resemblance/commonality
• “Self-domestication”: groups selected those who conformed to social and group norms best
  • Selected friends and partners based on “ability to live within the tribe’s moral matrix”
  • Created friendlier, gentler humans and conditions for peaceful coexistence