Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-pztms Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-29T16:41:03.671Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why some coalitions benefit from historical myths more than others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2025

Luuk L. Snijder  and
Carsten K.W. De Dreu Open the ORCID record for Carsten K.W. De Dreu [Opens in a new window]
Luuk L. Snijder
Affiliation:
Institute for Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands l.l.snijder@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Carsten K.W. De Dreu*
Affiliation:
Faculty for Behavioral and Social Science, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands c.k.w.de.dreu@rug.nl Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Unit, German Primate Center; Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Behavioural ecologies in themselves can create variation in fitness interdependencies among individuals, and hence modulate the functionality of invoking historical myths. We develop this possibility for the case where coalitions form to attack and exploit enemies, or to defend and protect against hostile out-groups. We propose that invoking historical myths are functional and observed especially when groups aggressively expand.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e192
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aktipis, A., Cronk, L., Alcock, J., Ayers, J. D., Baciu, C., Balliet, D., … Muñoz, A. (2018) Understanding cooperation through fitness interdependence. Nature Human Behaviour, 2(7), 429–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Balliet, D., Tybur, J. M., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2017). Functional interdependence theory: An evolutionary account of social situations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(4), 361–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316657965CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyer, P., Firat, R., & van Leeuwen, F. (2015) Safety, threat, and stress in intergroup relations: A coalitional index model. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(4), 434–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Dreu, C. K. W., & Gross, J. (2019). Revisiting the form and function of conflict: Neurobiological, psychological and cultural mechanisms for attack and defense within and between groups. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X18002170CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Dreu, C. K. W., Gross, J., Méder, Z., Giffin, M., Prochazkova, E., Krikeb, J., & Columbus, S. (2016). In-group defense, out-group aggression, and coordination failures in intergroup conflict. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 113(38), 10524–10529. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605115113CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Dreu, C. K. W., Gross, J., & Reddmann, L. (2022) Environmental stress increases out-group aggression and intergroup conflict in humans. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 377(1851), 20210147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Dreu, C. K. W., Gross, J., & Romano, A. (2024) Group formation and the evolution of human social organization. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 19(2), 320–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esch, J. (2010) Legitimizing the “War on Terror”: Political myth in official-level rhetoric. Political Psychology, 31(3), 357–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, R., Callander, R., Reddish, P., & Bulbulia, J. (2013) How do rituals affect cooperation? An experimental field study comparing nine ritual types. Human Nature, 24, 115–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gross, J., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Reddmann, L. (2022) Shadow of conflict: How past conflict influences group cooperation and the use of punishment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 171, 104152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macfarlan, S. J., Walker, R. S., Flinn, M. V., & Chagnon, N. A. (2014) Lethal coalitionary aggression and long-term alliance formation among Yanomamö men. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(47), 16662–16669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snijder, L. L., Gross, J., Stallen, M., & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2024). Prosocial preferences and solidarity escalate intergroup conflict by prioritizing fight over flight. Working Paper, Leiden University.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. M. (2003). Munitions of the mind: A history of propaganda. London, UK: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, H., & Lanman, J. A. (2014) The ties that bind us: Ritual, fusion, and identification. Current Anthropology, 55(6), 674–695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J., Zhang, H., Ni, J., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Ma, Y. (2020). Within-group synchronization in the prefrontal cortex associates with intergroup conflict. Nature Neuroscience, 23(6), 754–760. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-0630-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed