War's Enduring Effects on the Development of Egalitarian Motivations and In-Group Biases

In suggesting that new nations often coalesce in the decades following war, historians have posed an important psychological question: Does the experience of war generate an enduring elevation in people's egalitarian motivations toward their in-group? We administered social-choice tasks to more...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2014-01, Vol.25 (1), p.47-57
Main Authors: Bauer, Michal, Cassar, Alessandra, Chytilová, Julie, Henrich, Joseph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Child, Preschool
Children
Civil wars
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Developmental psychology
Effects
Egalitarianism
Envy
Equality
Evolution
Evolutionary psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Georgia
Georgia (Republic) - ethnology
Group Processes
Human Development - physiology
Humans
In-group
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation
Motivation - physiology
Motivation research
Parochialism
Personality traits
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone - ethnology
Social Behavior
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
War
Warfare
Young Adult
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Summary:In suggesting that new nations often coalesce in the decades following war, historians have posed an important psychological question: Does the experience of war generate an enduring elevation in people's egalitarian motivations toward their in-group? We administered social-choice tasks to more than 1,000 children and adults differentially affected by wars in the Republic of Georgia and Sierra Leone. We found that greater exposure to war created a lasting increase in people's egalitarian motivations toward their in-group, but not their out-groups, during a developmental window starting in middle childhood (around 7 years of age) and ending in early adulthood (around 20 years of age). Outside this window, war had no measurable impact on social motivations in young children and had only muted effects on the motivations of older adults. These "war effects" are broadly consistent with predictions from evolutionary approaches that emphasize the importance of group cooperation in defending against external threats, though they also highlight key areas in need of greater theoretical development.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797613493444