scholarly journals The language of cooperation: shared intentionality drives variation in helping as a function of group membership

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1863) ◽  
pp. 20171682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Susan McClung ◽  
Sarah Placì ◽  
Adrian Bangerter ◽  
Fabrice Clément ◽  
Redouan Bshary
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Optimal Foraging ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Shared Intentionality ◽  
Spontaneous Language ◽  
Experimental Game ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
Group Members

While we know that the degree to which humans are able to cooperate is unrivalled by other species, the variation humans actually display in their cooperative behaviour has yet to be fully explained. This may be because research based on experimental game-theoretical studies neglects fundamental aspects of human sociality and psychology, namely social interaction and language. Using a new optimal foraging game loosely modelled on the prisoner's dilemma, the egg hunt, we categorized players as either in-group or out-group to each other and studied their spontaneous language usage while they made interactive, potentially cooperative decisions. Both shared group membership and the possibility to talk led to increased cooperation and overall success in the hunt. Notably, analysis of players' conversations showed that in-group members engaged more in shared intentionality, the human ability to both mentally represent and then adopt another's goal, whereas out-group members discussed individual goals more. Females also helped more and displayed more shared intentionality in discussions than males. Crucially, we show that shared intentionality was the mechanism driving the increase in helping between in-group players over out-group players at a cost to themselves. By studying spontaneous language during social interactions and isolating shared intentionality as the mechanism underlying successful cooperation, the current results point to a probable psychological source of the variation in cooperation humans display.

scholarly journals The Impact of Social Ties on Group Interactions: Evidence from Minimal Groups and Randomly Assigned Real Groups

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenz Goette ◽  
David Huffman ◽  
Stephan Meier
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Group Interactions ◽  
Norm Enforcement ◽  
Group Preferences ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Minimal Groups ◽  
The Impact

Economists are increasingly interested in how group membership affects individual behavior. The standard method assigns individuals to “minimal” groups, i.e. arbitrary labels, in a lab. But real groups often involve social interactions leading to social ties between group members. Our experiments compare randomly assigned minimal groups to randomly assigned groups involving real social interactions. While adding social ties leads to qualitatively similar, although stronger, in-group favoritism in cooperation, altruistic norm enforcement patterns are qualitatively different between treatments. Our findings contribute to the micro-foundation of theories of group preferences, and caution against generalizations from “minimal” groups to groups with social context. (JEL C92, D64, D71, Z13)

scholarly journals Endogenous oxytocin predicts helping and conversation as a function of group membership

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1882) ◽  
pp. 20180939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Susan McClung ◽  
Zegni Triki ◽  
Fabrice Clément ◽  
Adrian Bangerter ◽  
Redouan Bshary
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Extreme Variation ◽  
Helping Behaviour ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Baseline Levels ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Behavioural Sciences

Humans cooperate with unrelated individuals to an extent that far outstrips any other species. We also display extreme variation in decisions about whether to cooperate or not, and the mechanisms driving this variation remain an open question across the behavioural sciences. One candidate mechanism underlying this variation in cooperation is the evolutionary ancient neurohormone oxytocin (OT). As current research focuses on artificial administration of OT in asocial tasks, little is known about how the hormone in its naturally occurring state actually impacts behaviour in social interactions. Using a new optimal foraging paradigm, the ‘egg hunt’, we assessed the association of endogenous OT with helping behaviour and conversation. We manipulated players' group membership relative to each other prior to an egg hunt, during which they had repeated opportunities to spontaneously help each other. Results show that endogenous baseline OT predicted helping and conversation type, but crucially as a function of group membership. Higher baseline OT predicted increased helping but only between in-group players, as well as decreased discussion about individuals’ goals between in-group players but conversely more of such discussion between out-group players. Subsequently, behaviour but not conversation during the hunt predicted change in OT, in that out-group members who did not help showed a decrease in OT from baseline levels. In sum, endogenous OT predicts helping behaviour and conversation, importantly as a function of group membership, and this effect occurs in parallel to uniquely human cognitive processes.

Copy the In-group: Group Membership Trumps Perceived Reliability, Warmth, and Competence in a Social-Learning Task

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110322
Author(s):  
Marcel Montrey ◽  
Thomas R. Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Minimal Group Paradigm ◽  
Learning Game ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution

Surprisingly little is known about how social groups influence social learning. Although several studies have shown that people prefer to copy in-group members, these studies have failed to resolve whether group membership genuinely affects who is copied or whether group membership merely correlates with other known factors, such as similarity and familiarity. Using the minimal-group paradigm, we disentangled these effects in an online social-learning game. In a sample of 540 adults, we found a robust in-group-copying bias that (a) was bolstered by a preference for observing in-group members; (b) overrode perceived reliability, warmth, and competence; (c) grew stronger when social information was scarce; and (d) even caused cultural divergence between intermixed groups. These results suggest that people genuinely employ a copy-the-in-group social-learning strategy, which could help explain how inefficient behaviors spread through social learning and how humans maintain the cultural diversity needed for cumulative cultural evolution.

scholarly journals Preference for hierarchy is associated with reduced empathy and increased counter-empathy towards others, especially out-group targets

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sa-kiera Tiarra Jolynn Hudson ◽  
Mina Cikara ◽  
Jim Sidanius
Keyword(s):  
Social Dominance ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Social Dominance Orientation ◽  
Group Setting ◽  
Group Boundaries ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Prejudicial Attitudes ◽  
Status Differences

The capacity to empathize with others facilitates prosocial behavior. People’s willingness and capacity to empathize, however, is often contingent upon the target’s group membership – people are less empathic towards those they categorize as out-group members. In competitive or threatening intergroup contexts, people may even feel pleasure (counter-empathy) in response to out-group members’ misfortunes. Social dominance orientation (SDO), or the extent to which people prefer and promote group-based inequalities, is an ideological variable that is associated with a competitive view of the world, increased prejudicial attitudes, and decreased empathy. Thus, higher levels of SDO should be associated with reduced empathy and increased counter-empathy in general, but especially towards those whose subjugation maintains group inequalities. Across three studies we show that among White individuals, higher SDO levels are associated with less empathy, and more counter-empathy in response to others’ good and bad fortunes. More importantly, these reductions in empathy and increases in schadenfreude as a function of SDO were significantly stronger for Asian and Black targets than for in-group White targets when group boundaries were made salient prior to the empathy ratings. Finally, in a fourth study we show that this phenomenon is not dependent upon a history of status differences: higher SDO scores were associated with decreased empathy and increased counter-empathy for competitive out-group (relative to in-group) targets in a novel group setting. We discuss implications of these effects for hierarchy maintenance.

scholarly journals Rapid juvenile hormone downregulation in subordinate wasp queens facilitates stable cooperation

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1872) ◽  
pp. 20172645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Tibbetts ◽  
Michelle L. Fearon ◽  
Ellery Wong ◽  
Zachary Y. Huang ◽  
Robin M. Tinghitella
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Reproductive Hormones ◽  
Reproductive Capacity ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Polistes Dominula ◽  
Group Members

In many cooperatively breeding animals, subordinate group members have lower reproductive capacity than dominant group members. Theory suggests subordinates may downregulate their reproductive capacity because dominants punish subordinates who maintain high fertility. However, there is little direct experimental evidence that dominants cause physiological suppression in subordinates. Here, we experimentally test how social interactions influence subordinate reproductive hormones in Polistes dominula paper wasps. Polistes dominula queens commonly found nests in cooperative groups where the dominant queen is more fertile than the subordinate queen. In this study, we randomly assigned wasps to cooperative groups, assessed dominance behaviour during group formation, then measured levels of juvenile hormone (JH), a hormone that mediates Polistes fertility. Within three hours, lowest ranking subordinates had less JH than dominants or solitary controls, indicating that group formation caused rapid JH reduction in low-ranking subordinates. In a second experiment, we measured the behavioural consequences of experimentally increasing subordinate JH. Subordinates with high JH-titres received significantly more aggression than control subordinates or subordinates from groups where the dominant's JH was increased. These results suggest that dominants aggressively punished subordinates who attempted to maintain high fertility. Low-ranked subordinates may rapidly downregulate reproductive capacity to reduce costly social interactions with dominants. Rapid modulation of subordinate reproductive physiology may be an important adaptation to facilitate the formation of stable, cooperative groups.

Identifying the motivations of chimpanzees: Culture and collaboration

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 704-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Horner ◽  
Kristin E. Bonnie ◽  
Frans B. M. de Waal
Keyword(s):  
Shared Intentionality ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
Coordination And Collaboration

Tomasello et al. propose that shared intentionality is a uniquely human ability. In light of this, we discuss several cultural behaviors that seem to result from a motivation to share experiences with others, suggest evidence for coordination and collaboration among chimpanzees, and cite recent findings that counter the argument that the predominance of emulation in chimpanzees reflects a deficit in intention reading.

scholarly journals Group Membership and Parthood

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Strohmaier
Keyword(s):  
Group Membership ◽  
Reading Group ◽  
The Past ◽  
Combined Solution ◽  
Group Members

AbstractDespite having faced severe criticism in the past, mereological approaches to group ontology, which argue that groups are wholes and that groups members are parts, have recently managed a comeback. Authors such as Katherine Ritchie and Paul Sheehy have applied neo-Aristotelian mereology to groups, and Katherine Hawley has defended mereological approaches against the standard objections in the literature. The present paper develops the mereological approaches to group ontology further and proposes an analysis of group membership as parthood plus further restrictions. While all mereological accounts agree that group members are parts of the group, it has become clear that this analysis is insufficient. I discuss three proposals to develop the mereological analysis of group membership and then put forward a combined solution to the puzzle. According to my proposal, the members of a reading group are agents who are part of the group and have been designated to contribute to the group.

scholarly journals Effect of Prior Information on Bayesian Membership Calculations for Nearby Young Star Associations

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (S314) ◽  
pp. 67-68
Author(s):  
Jinhee Lee ◽  
Inseok Song
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Prior Information ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Young Star ◽  
Field Star ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Bona Fide

AbstractWe present a refined moving group membership diagnostics scheme based on Bayesian inference. Compared to the BANYAN II method, we improved the calculation by updating bona fide members of a moving group, field star treatment, and uniform spatial distribution of moving group members. Here, we present the detailed description of our method and the new results for Bayesian membership calculation. Comparison of our method with BANYAN II shows probability differences up to ~90%. We conclude that more cautious consideration is needed in moving group membership based on Bayesian inference.

scholarly journals Keep a Stiff Upper Lip or Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve? Ethnic Identity and Emotion Management among Arab/Palestinians in Israel

Sociology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval Feinstein ◽  
Maha Shehade Switat
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Emotion Management ◽  
Ethnic Minority Groups ◽  
Upper Lip ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Palestinians In Israel ◽  
Subjective Identity

This study examines how emotion management is linked to subjective identity among members of ethnic minority groups in ethnically mixed workplaces. Data were drawn from interviews with Arab/Palestinian citizen residents of Israel. The results reveal three distinct strategies of emotion management: (1) Arab/Palestinians, regardless of their subjective identity, tend to conceal emotions during interactions with majority group members; (2) individuals who identify as ‘Arab’ also tend to regulate social interactions to avoid the emotional risks that accompany interactions with majority group members; (3) those who choose a ‘Palestinian’ label are more likely to actively express their ethnic identities despite the emotional risks associated with this type of identification. The findings suggest that emotion management is influenced not only by a person’s assignment to a social minority category (the emphasis of previous research), but also by a person’s subjectively defined identity.

Function and Meaning of Wild Gorilla 'Close' Calls

Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 827-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.H. Harcourt ◽  
K.J. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Future Activity ◽  
Close Call ◽  
Contact Calls ◽  
Group Members

We investigate the social significance of the within group ('close') calls of gorillas by examining correlates of calling with dominance rank and with relatedness of adults, and by examining whether the outcomes of interactions between adults differ depending on the calls given during the interactions. In two wild gorilla groups, the majority of adults give most of their calls when near another adult and fully in sight of them. Thus gorillas' use 'close' calls as more than mere contact calls. An adult gorilla's use of 'close' calls correlates with its own and with its partner's dominance rank, with effects being most obvious for the most dominant animals, the fully adult males. Thus the proportion of 'double grunts', the most common 'close' call, in an individual's repertoire correlated consistently with dominance rank; all non-silverback adults gave a higher percent of double grunts in the presence of subordinates than they did near dominant animals; individuals were most likely to give 'non-syllabled' grunts in the adult male's presence; and they consistently exchanged calls at a higher rate with the adult males than with other group members. An adult's type of calls did not obviously differ depending on whether their neighbour was kin or non-kin, but kin were overall more likely to give calls in the presence of kin, and to exchange calls with kin than with non-kin, although the association was not consistent throughout the two years of the study. With regard to the consequences of calling, subordinates were less likely to be feeding one minute after an approach by a fully adult male during which calls were exchanged than during silent approaches. In contrast to findings from studies of some other species, calling did not correlate with duration of grooming. We suggest that, among other functions, gorillas' 'close' calls mediate social interactions. One form of calls, 'non-syllabled' calls, are interpretable as appeasement signals. The broadest interpretation of the 'double grunt' is that it is an exaggerated announcement of presence, whose function is to attract attention to the caller, and to signal conditional future activity.

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