The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation

Abstract Identity fusion represents a strongly-held personal identity that significantly overlaps with that of a group, and is the current best explanation as to why individuals become empowered to act with extreme self-sacrifice for a group of non-kin. This is widely seen and documented, yet how id...

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Autores principales:	Roger M. Whitaker, Gualtiero B. Colombo, Yarrow Dunham
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d40878333bfc4ef79ccb580303412af4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d40878333bfc4ef79ccb580303412af42021-12-02T17:52:41ZThe evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation10.1038/s41598-021-91333-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/d40878333bfc4ef79ccb580303412af42021-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-91333-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Identity fusion represents a strongly-held personal identity that significantly overlaps with that of a group, and is the current best explanation as to why individuals become empowered to act with extreme self-sacrifice for a group of non-kin. This is widely seen and documented, yet how identity fusion is promoted by evolution is not well-understood, being seemingly counter to the selfish pursuit of survival. In this paper we extend agent-based modelling to explore how and why identity fusion can establish itself in an unrelated population with no previous shared experiences. Using indirect reciprocity to provide a framework for agent interaction, we enable agents to express their identity fusion towards a group, and observe the effects of potential behaviours that are incentivised by a heightened fusion level. These build on the social psychology literature and involve heightened sensitivity of fused individuals to perceived hypocritical group support from others. We find that simple self-referential judgement and ignorance of perceived hypocrites is sufficient to promote identity fusion and this is easily triggered by a sub-group of the population. Interestingly the self-referential judgement that we impose is an individual-level behaviour with no direct collective benefit shared by the population. The study provides clues, beyond qualitative and observational studies, as to how hypocrisy may have established itself to reinforce the collective benefit of a fused group identity. It also provides an alternative perspective on the controversial proposition of group selection - showing how fluidity between an individual’s reputation and that of a group may function and influence selection as a consequence of identity fusion.Roger M. WhitakerGualtiero B. ColomboYarrow DunhamNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Roger M. Whitaker Gualtiero B. Colombo Yarrow Dunham The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
description	Abstract Identity fusion represents a strongly-held personal identity that significantly overlaps with that of a group, and is the current best explanation as to why individuals become empowered to act with extreme self-sacrifice for a group of non-kin. This is widely seen and documented, yet how identity fusion is promoted by evolution is not well-understood, being seemingly counter to the selfish pursuit of survival. In this paper we extend agent-based modelling to explore how and why identity fusion can establish itself in an unrelated population with no previous shared experiences. Using indirect reciprocity to provide a framework for agent interaction, we enable agents to express their identity fusion towards a group, and observe the effects of potential behaviours that are incentivised by a heightened fusion level. These build on the social psychology literature and involve heightened sensitivity of fused individuals to perceived hypocritical group support from others. We find that simple self-referential judgement and ignorance of perceived hypocrites is sufficient to promote identity fusion and this is easily triggered by a sub-group of the population. Interestingly the self-referential judgement that we impose is an individual-level behaviour with no direct collective benefit shared by the population. The study provides clues, beyond qualitative and observational studies, as to how hypocrisy may have established itself to reinforce the collective benefit of a fused group identity. It also provides an alternative perspective on the controversial proposition of group selection - showing how fluidity between an individual’s reputation and that of a group may function and influence selection as a consequence of identity fusion.
format	article
author	Roger M. Whitaker Gualtiero B. Colombo Yarrow Dunham
author_facet	Roger M. Whitaker Gualtiero B. Colombo Yarrow Dunham
author_sort	Roger M. Whitaker
title	The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
title_short	The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
title_full	The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
title_fullStr	The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
title_full_unstemmed	The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
title_sort	evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d40878333bfc4ef79ccb580303412af4
work_keys_str_mv	AT rogermwhitaker theevolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation AT gualtierobcolombo theevolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation AT yarrowdunham theevolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation AT rogermwhitaker evolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation AT gualtierobcolombo evolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation AT yarrowdunham evolutionofstronglyheldgroupidentitiesthroughagentbasedcooperation
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The evolution of strongly-held group identities through agent-based cooperation

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