The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War
Abstract
Altruism—benefiting fellow group members at a cost to oneself—and parochialism—hostility toward individuals not of one's own ethnic, racial, or other group—are common human behaviors. The intersection of the two—which we term “parochial altruism”—is puzzling from an evolutionary perspective because altruistic or parochial behavior reduces one's payoffs by comparison to what one would gain by eschewing these behaviors. But parochial altruism could have evolved if parochialism promoted intergroup hostilities and the combination of altruism and parochialism contributed to success in these conflicts. Our game-theoretic analysis and agent-based simulations show that under conditions likely to have been experienced by late Pleistocene and early Holocene humans, neither parochialism nor altruism would have been viable singly, but by promoting group conflict, they could have evolved jointly.
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A belief or behaviour within religious and/or spiritual cultural complexes need only promote individuals' tendencies to take on a cost for the benefit of their focal group in order to produce cooperation and its associated prosocial effects (parochial altruism).
“Similarly, a belief or behaviour within religious and/or spiritual cultural complexes need only promote individuals' tendencies to take on a cost for the benefit of their focal group in order for it to produce cooperation and its associated prosocial effects (a phenomenon known as parochial altruism: García and van den Bergh 2011; Choi and Bowles 2007; Norenzayan et al. 2016b).”
From Cultural Evolution of Religion, Spirituality and Ritual: Impacts On Human Cooperation (2024) · cites this paper as Choi and Bowles 2007
Choi and Bowles show in their simulation study that the combination of parochialism and altruism might have increased the success in violent intergroup conflict, and thereby increased the reproductive benefit of the parochial altruists.
“Choi and Bowles (2007) show in their simulation study that the combination of parochialism and altruism might have increased the success in violent intergroup conflict, and thereby increased the reproductive benefit of the parochial altruists.”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Choi & Bowles, 2007
Taking intergroup migration into account, simulations reveal that groups consisting of many parochial altruists is at least one equilibrium state.
“Taking intergroup migration into account, simulations reveal that groups consisting of many parochial altruists is at least one equilibrium state (Choi & Bowles, 2007: 638).”
From Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality (2026) · cites this paper as Choi & Bowles, 2007
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References 23 · Cited by 1,227
- Authors
- Choi, J.-K., & Bowles, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Siena (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Bowles, Samuel
- ORCID
- Bowles, Samuel
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2007-10-26
- Volume
- 318
- Issue
- 5850
- Pages
- 636-640
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2111240301
- Cited by
- 1,227
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 60 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 84 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 96 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 75 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 80 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 78 · 2012: 55
- FWCI
- 79.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- parochial altruism, parochialism, altruism, intergroup conflict, war, coevolution, group conflict, intergroup hostility, evolutionary game theory, agent-based modeling, Late Pleistocene, Early Holocene, human evolution
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Altruism, Computer Simulation, Cooperative Behavior, Biological Evolution, Female, Game Theory, Hostility, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Reproduction, Social Behavior, Warfare
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