Social evolution: Why playing favourites is a winning strategy
Scientific Reports
June 22, 2012
A mathematical model for the evolution of in-group favouritism is published in Scientific Reports this week. The study suggests it can be advantageous to love your friends, even when today’s allies might be tomorrow’s enemies.
In-group favouritism is a central feature of human behaviour and people often help members of their own group more than members of other groups. But in humans, group membership is dynamic and flexible. During the 2008 US presidential election, for example, supporters of Democratic primary candidates Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton formed two separate groups and showed strong bias against each other. After the transition from the primary to the general election, the two groups merged and the intra-Democrat bias disappeared.
Martin Nowak and colleagues used the framework of evolutionary set theory to determine the conditions under which preferential in-group cooperation evolves. In the model, people can move among groups and can employ different strategies depending on whether or not they are interacting with members of their own group. Discrimination based on group identity can be a powerful force for both good and ill in human society and so understanding the evolutionary dynamics of group identity and discrimination is an important goal.
doi: 10.1038/srep00460
Research highlights
-
Jun 24
Palaeontology: It sucked to be the prey of ancient cephalopodsScientific Reports
-
Jun 24
Sport science: New wearable sensor to measure neck strain may detect potential concussionScientific Reports
-
Jun 23
Scientific community: Women credited less than men in scientific paper authorshipNature
-
Jun 17
Health technology: New cost-effective smartphone test for middle ear functionCommunications Medicine
-
Jun 17
Conservation: Feral cats pushing critically endangered marsupial further towards extinctionScientific Reports
-
Jun 16
Microbiology: DNA analysis indicates origins of the Black DeathNature