Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T18:19:14.627Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the evolutionary origins of revenge and forgiveness: A converging systems hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2012

Richard J. Crisp
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Group Processes, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United Kingdom. r.crisp@kent.ac.ukwww.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/crispr/rm379@kent.ac.ukwww.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/meleadyr/
Rose Meleady
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Group Processes, School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United Kingdom. r.crisp@kent.ac.ukwww.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/crispr/rm379@kent.ac.ukwww.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/meleadyr/

Abstract

McCullough et al. argue that humans possess evolved computational systems for implementing retaliatory behavior that both deters aggression and promotes subsequent reconciliation. However, they do not apply this analysis to the sphere of intergroup relations. We believe their model can be usefully extended to this domain and discuss why this would be possible, pertinent, and productive.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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.)

References

Allport, G. W. (1954) The nature of prejudice. Doubleday.Google Scholar
Bornstein, G. (2003) Intergroup conflict: Individual, group, and collective interests. Personality and Social Psychology Review 7:129–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, R. & Hewstone, M. (2005) An integrative theory of intergroup contact. In: Advances in experimental social psychology, ed. Zanna, M., pp. 255343. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Caporael, L. R. (1997) The evolution of truly social cognition: The core configurations model. Personality and Social Psychology Review 1:276–98.Google Scholar
Caporael, L. R., Baron, R. M. (1997) Groups as the minds natural environment. In: Evolutionary social psychology, ed. Simpson, J. A. & Kenrick, D. T., pp. 317–45. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Coser, L. A. (1956) The function of social conflict. Free Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, R. J. & Hewstone, M. (2007) Multiple social categorization. In: Advances in experimental social psychology, ed. Zanna, M., pp. 163254. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Crisp, R. J. & Turner, R. N. (2009) Can imagined interactions produce positive perceptions? Reducing prejudice through simulated social contact. American Psychologist 64:231–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, R. J. & Turner, R. N. (2011) Cognitive adaptation to the experience of social and cultural diversity. Psychological Bulletin 137:242–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, R. M. (1980) Social dilemmas. Annual Review of Psychology 31:169–93.Google Scholar
Deutsch, M. (1973) The resolution of conflict. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1940) The nuer. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. (2002) Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature 415:137–40.Google Scholar
Hewstone, M., Cairns, E., Voci, A., Hamberger, J. & Niens, U. (2006) Intergroup contact, forgiveness, and the experience of “The troubles” in Northern Ireland. Journal of Social Issues 6:99120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kollock, P. (1998) Social dilemmas: Anatomy of cooperation. Annual Review of Sociology 24:183214.Google Scholar
LeVine, R. A. & Campbell, D. T. (1972) Ethnocentrism: Theories of conflict, ethnic attitudes and group behaviour. Wiley.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Cairns, E. & Voci, A. (2004) Effects of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgments of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of anxiety-reduction mechanism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30:770–86.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, T. F. & Tropp, L. R. (2006) A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90:751–83.Google Scholar
Sherif, M. (1966) In common predicament: Social psychology of intergroup conflict and cooperation. Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Taylor, D. M. & Moghaddam, F. M. (1987) Theories of intergroup relations: International social psychological perspective. Praeger.Google Scholar
Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., Voci, A. & Vonofakou, C. (2008) A test of the extended intergroup contact hypothesis: The mediating role of intergroup anxiety, perceived ingroup and outgroup norms, and the inclusion of the outgroup in the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95:843–60.Google Scholar
Yamagishi, T. (1986) The provision of a sanctioning system as a public good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51:110–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar