Context Modularity of Human Altruism

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 334; no. 6061; pp. 1392 - 1394
• Main Authors: Alexander, Marcus, Christia, Fotini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 09.12.2011; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Altruism; Attitudes; Behavioral sciences; Biological altruism; Biological and medical sciences; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Catholicism; Conflict (Psychology); Cooperative Behavior; Corruption; Cultural Diversity; Economic sanctions; Empirical evidence; Ethnic diversity; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Games, Experimental; Group Processes; Humans; Institutional Environment; Islam; Laboratories; Male; Muslims; Poverty; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Public goods; public services and goods; Punishment; Racial integration; Reciprocal altruism; Research Design; Sanctions; School Desegregation; School segregation; Schools; Schools - organization & administration; Social behavior; Social interactions. Communication. Group processes; Social psychology; Student Behavior; Student gender segregation; Europe; Bosnia Herzegovina; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Social environment; Human; Islam; Cooperation; Diversity; Religion; Catholicism; Altruism; Institution; Social integration; Ethnic group
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1202599

Whereas altruism drives the evolution of human cooperation, ethno-religious diversity has been considered to obstruct it, leading to poverty, corruption, and war. We argue that current research has failed to properly account for the institutional environment and how it affects the role diversity plays. The emergence of thriving, diverse communities throughout human history suggests that diversity does not always lead to cooperation breakdown. We conducted experiments in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina with Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks at a critical historic moment in the city's postwar history. Using a public goods game, we found that the ability to sanction is key to achieving cooperation in ethno-religiously diverse groups, but that sanctions succeed only in integrated institutional environments and fail in segregated ones. Hence, we show experimentally for the first time in a real-life setting that institutions of integration can unleash human altruism and restore cooperation in the presence of diversity.