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Group-structured cultural selection can explain both war and peace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Sarah Mathew Open the ORCID record for Sarah Mathew [Opens in a new window]  and
Matthew Zefferman Open the ORCID record for Matthew Zefferman [Opens in a new window]
Sarah Mathew*
Affiliation:
Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Sarah.mathew@asu.edu www.sarahmathew.net
Matthew Zefferman
Affiliation:
Department of Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA mrzeffer@nps.edu https://zefferman.com/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Glowacki recognizes the importance of norms in enabling war and peace, but does not focus on the cultural evolutionary mechanisms by which these norms are maintained. We highlight how group-structured cultural selection shapes the scale and nature of peaceful intergroup interactions. The mechanistic perspective reveals that there are many more cases of peaceful intergroup relations than the current account implies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e18
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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