Citation

Van Vugt M. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 2009; 1167: 124-134.

Affiliation

Centre for the Study of Group Processes, Department of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom. mvv@kent.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04539.x

PMID

19580559

Abstract

The social science literature abounds with examples of human tribalism, the tendency to categorize individuals on the basis of their group membership and treat in-group members benevolently and out-group members malevolently. I argue that this tribal inclination is an evolved response to the threat of intergroup violence and warfare that was endemic in ancestral human environments (and is still common today). Here I hypothesize that intergroup conflict has profoundly affected the social psychology of human males in particular--the male warrior hypothesis--and present evidence consistent with this claim. I also discuss implications of this hypothesis for managing intergroup relations in our society.

Language: en