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Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

neurosciencenews.com

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Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#91

Post by archhn »

Nothing is more important for survival and thriving than belonging to a tribe. An isolated man is a dead man.

Also, we don't need neuroscience to condescend to us like this. Isn't it obvious? Surely, most people have engaged in team sports and have felt the exhilaration of working together to overcome an enemy tribe.

This also relates to the pleasure of harming others, even those not identified as members of an 'outgroup.' It is frowned upon by society, but most people like to hurt people. Why? Because the power to harm others is the power to defend yourself against them or knock them down in the struggle for hierarchical dominance. Those who are powerless often pose as saints, but if you give them power over others, they will become monsters--like the lowly wage worker who becomes a tyrant as soon as he's placed in management. We all have a devil inside us...and it's not from us being fallen creatures, but because life must take life in order to live. Life is an endless cycle of self-consumption, life consuming life...an ouroboros eating its tail--forever.

Neitzche said the worst complement someone can receive is that they never hurt anyone. If you aren't somehow dangerous, who will care about you? What is your value in the struggle for life?

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#92

Post by int_19h »

feet wrote: post #41
meany wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something thing you might want to consider. as this article points out human brains evolved to push the individual to identify with a group and be hostile to other groups because it improved fitness. Through most of human existence this group survival pressure outweighed objective rational perception of reality . Political parties often tap into this in group out group emotional connection. While I agree that Republi…

Well I'm not democrat either, both parties do it to a degree, the republicans are just completely insane and super aggressive about it so its a bit more obvious

Group cohesion is more important for the Republicans at this point, because they're numerically inferior.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#93

Post by int_19h »

TexanFeller wrote: post #80
feet wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libertarians also don't seem to recognise the inherently exploitative characteristics of capitalism and refuse to accept that regulation is necessary for the protection of workers and the populace from assholes with too much time, money, and power

Some of us are very aware of such exploitation, but we’re skeptical that we’ll be less exploited by those given political power to deal with those immoral capitalists. History is full of examples of party leaders in Marxist countries wining and dining while the populace lives in poverty. It happens when too much power rests in any institution. So I personally oppose large businesses as much as I oppose large governme…

But what kind of policy does that opposition to large businesses translate to? How do you prevent them from actually arising?

Left answer to that is that large businesses are the result of unbounded concentration of capital. Left authoritarians (the ones I think you refer to as Marxists? even though not all of them are, and not all Marxists are authoritarian) want to limit it by state action. Left libertarians think that taking the government out of the picture and reworking property rights around some notion of usufruct is sufficient. But what's the right libertarian answer?

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#94

Post by sbf501 »

glitcher wrote: post #64
charlie0 wrote: post #45

In otherwords, water is wet. It's very easy to see that tribal behavior is hardwired into the brain. One just has to look at history and current events to see that. I own a sports motorcycle. One of the first things you learn at the track is that your initial instincts in certain situations are wrong because physics says so. During the course you learn to remold or even completely change your instincts. I've often wo…

> I've often wondered what we could accomplish as a species if we could just overcome some of these hardwired / knee-jerk instincts. And wouldn't studying the brain help lead us towards a better understanding of how to accomplish those goals? I'm not saying that this particular study is advancing us much, but helping identify how "obvious" human behaviors activate different parts of our brains does seem to be working…

But he DOES race motorcycles. So there's that.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#95

Post by wffurr »

r2_pilot wrote: post #68
wffurr wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go to hell LSU! Gotta win the Egg Bowl over those scrubs at Mississippi State. Woo hoo we’re in the playoffs! It comes from many people’s experiences of collegiate sports which is full of rivalries, largely with no real basis. Except for LSU.

How do you say you associate with the University of Mississippi without saying that you associate with them? Ha. I work there and went to school there too, so those first few sentences(well, except for the playoffs remark lol) sound very familiar.

Class of '04, Computer Science. Hotty Toddy.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#96

Post by car_analogy »

charlie0 wrote: post #45

In otherwords, water is wet. It's very easy to see that tribal behavior is hardwired into the brain. One just has to look at history and current events to see that. I own a sports motorcycle. One of the first things you learn at the track is that your initial instincts in certain situations are wrong because physics says so. During the course you learn to remold or even completely change your instincts. I've often wo…

> I've often wondered what we could accomplish as a species if we could just overcome some of these hardwired / knee-jerk instincts.

The instincts that you like are also hardwired, and we'd also learn to overcome those. We could end up as the society in Brave New World.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#97

Post by insickness »

For many affiliations, particularly political ones, your affiliation is more based on hating the outgroup than loving the ingroup. For example, I would wager that most Republicans hate Democrats more than they love Republicans and more progressives hate conservatives more than they love progressives. You need look no further than left and right leaning news sources to see this. A left leaning news source is far more about exposing people on the right than talking about how good the left is, and vice versa.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#98

Post by 082349872349872 »

johndevor wrote: post #2

This reminds me of Girard's idea that Christianity (and others I'm sure) was effective because it showed things from the victim's point of view. I'm not making the claim that it fixed everything, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.

"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#99

Post by sokoloff »

casion wrote: post #63
nverno wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those campuses are seeped in that rivarly. You'll hear chants, speeches, etc. It's a tradition.

To add on to this, I have a co-worker from a specific university who would not buy a car because it was a rival universities colour. This person is ~30 years out of school, and the vehicle was an INCREDIBLE deal and exactly what the person was looking to buy (other than the colour). The person never competed in sports and was a comp sci major. It runs deep for at many schools.

My wife would not let me wear a tie with Michigan colors to a wedding. Michigan and (the) Ohio State are rivals; she grew up near but did not go to Ohio State.

It’s deep indeed.

Re: Harming the ‘outgroup’ linked to elevated activity in the brain reward circuitry

#100

Post by sokoloff »

insickness wrote: post #97

For many affiliations, particularly political ones, your affiliation is more based on hating the outgroup than loving the ingroup. For example, I would wager that most Republicans hate Democrats more than they love Republicans and more progressives hate conservatives more than they love progressives. You need look no further than left and right leaning news sources to see this. A left leaning news source is far more…

I wonder how much of that is a structural defect in our political system/human nature-intersects politics.

You get votes (and power) by promising to right wrongs the other side has perpetrated.

You don’t get nearly as much votes and power from actually righting those wrongs and, in fact, the removal of those wrongs may reduce the future power you have to make promises to fix them.

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