Exposure to intergroup conflict determines a population’s mix of self-interest and self-sacrifice.

Evidence

For Darwin himself, moral virtue was most clearly associated not with universally mundane intuitions, beliefs, and behaviors about fairness and reciprocity, emotionally supported by empathy and consolation, but with an unevenly distributed propensity to what we nowadays call “parochial altruism” (Choi & Bowles 2007): especially extreme selfsacrifice in war and other intense forms of human conflict, where likely prospects for individual and even group survival had very low initial probability (Darwin 1871). Heroism, martyrdom, and other forms of self-sacrifice for the group appear to go beyond the mutualistic principles of fairness and reciprocity. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 269 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

A prescriptive norm within a collectivity that constitutes an especially important form of social capital is the norm that one should forgo selfinterest and act in the interests of the collectivity. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 104 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Intergroup warfare, not internal conflict or mating competition, drives costly male rites.; Costly rites mobilize male solidarity and spread culturally through intergroup competition.; Parochial altruism and self-sacrifice exceed mutualistic fairness models. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 269 (+3 more)

Related

• Parochial altruism and self-sacrifice exceed mutualistic fairness models. (similarity 0.84)
• Intergroup competition shifts populations toward self-sacrificial cooperation (similarity 0.81)
• Self-sacrifice for the collective is a key form of social capital. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Parochial altruism and self-sacrifice exceed mutualistic fairness models. #corroborates (0.78) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 269
• Self-sacrifice for the collective is a key form of social capital. #corroborates (0.75) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 104
• More cooperation is not always desirable across all groups. #complicates (0.72)