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How Tribalism Overrules Reason, and Makes Risky Times More Dangerous

spacejunk

spacejunk

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How Tribalism Overrules Reason, and Makes Risky Times More Dangerous

When I was a kid, my synagogue was right across the street from a Catholic church. Bellevue Avenue made such a clear dividing line between us – The Chosen People – and them…the enemy. No doubt the view from the other side of the street was the same. I had no idea at the time what a powerful metaphor those few lanes of asphalt made for one of the most significant aspects of human behavior…the powerful instinct of tribalism. It’s everywhere, protecting us by readily overriding reason, and morality, and pretty much anything else that could dim our chances of survival. And it's threatening us at the same time.

Maybe you read about one recent manifestation in The New York Times, about the Orthodox Jews of the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn who shunned a neighbor after he told police about a man – a fellow Jew - who was sexually abusing his son. You’d think that a father protecting his son would be the sort of behavior that would be honored. Nope. Not if it is disloyal to the tribe.

That’s the synagogue side of the street. How about the long loathsome record of Catholic Church authorities abandoning their morals and forfeiting the safety of vulnerable children by covering up, ignoring, or denying extensive evidence of child abuse by a small number of priests. Same thing. Tribe first. Morals second.

It’s not just religion, of course. We identify ourselves as members of all sorts of tribes; our families, political parties, race, gender, social organizations. We even identify tribally just based on where we live. Go Celtics, go Red Sox, go U.S. Olympic team! One study asked people whether, if they had a fatal disease, would they prefer a life-saving diagnosis from a computer that was 1,000 miles away, or the exact same diagnosis from a computer in their town, and a large majority preferred the same information if the source…a machine…was local.

Tribalism is pervasive, and it controls a lot of our behavior, readily overriding reason. Think of the inhuman things we do in the name of tribal unity. Wars are essentially, and often quite specifically, tribalism. Genocides are tribalism - wipe out the other group to keep our group safe – taken to madness. Racism that lets us feel that our tribe is better than theirs, parents who end contact with their own children when they dare marry someone of a different faith or color, denial of evolution or climate change or other basic scientific truths when they challenge tribal beliefs. What stunning evidence of the power of tribalism! (By the way, it wasn’t just geocentrist Catholics in the 16 adn 1700s who denied evidence that the earth travels around the sun. Some Christian biblical literalists still do. So do a handful of ultra orthodox Jews and Muslims.)

Yet another example is the polarized way we argue about so many issues, and the incredible irony that as we make these arguments we claim to be intelligent (smart, therefore right) yet we ignorantly close our minds to views that conflict with ours. Dan Kahan, principal researcher into the phenomenon of Cultural Cognition, has found that our views are powerfully shaped so they agree with beliefs of the groups with which we most strongly identify. His research, along with the work of others, has also found that the more challenged our views are, the more we defend them…the more dogmatic and closed-minded we become...an intellectual form of ‘circle-the-wagons, we’re under attack’ tribal unity. Talk about tribalism overruling reason.

As irrational as genocide and science denial and immorality may be, it makes absolute sense that tribalism can produce such behaviors. We are social animals. We have evolved to depend on our tribes, literally, for our safety and survival. As Jane Howard, biographer of anthropologist Margaret Mead, put it “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” We may not be aware at the conscious level of the influence tribalism has on us, but then, most of human cognition happens below the radar of consciousness, and is driven not so much by the goal of getting good grades or winning Nobel Prizes as it is, first, to survive. Small wonder that this ultimate imperative dominates so much of how we behave, how we think and act, and how we treat each other. And it’s hardly surprising that the more unsettled and uncertain we feel and the less we feel we have control over how things are going - feelings that make us feel threatened - the more we circle the wagons and fiercely fight for tribal success, looking to the tribe to keep us safe.

It’s a sobering reflection on this inherent but potentially destructive aspect of human nature, in these unsettled and threateningly uncertain times.
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Link
 
I think y'all are hurting your own cause with This hypersensitivity song and Dance, to virtue signal to minorities and perceived subjugated individuals. Honeslty, outside of the folks that make money off of the identity politics industry, you guys are falling on deaf ears. Just cultivate a solid political message and hope it spreads, like everyone else. These short cuts aren't helping your over all political message imo
 
It's fucked up isn't it?

I think the point that tribalism overrides reason is pretty evident.
 
Ok...tell me what you mean by us tribalism? There is the common folks of us vs them, the political with left/White apologists/liberal/independent-libertarian/conservative/racists/right with white/asian/black/latino/other and bring in preferences vs illusion but we are all Americans. Tell me more.
 
Tribalism in this context means thinking and siding with the ideological group you identify with, as opposed to assessing situations and ideas rationally, or thinking for yourself.

It's part of the reason things are currently so polarised - tribalism and absolutist (black/white, good/bad - us/them) ways of thinking.

When the same people who jump up and down about "pizzagate" and conspiracies about paedophile rings are able to casually dismiss the (far more credible) child abuse allegations against someone on their "side" of politics, what else can you say but to point out that they've suspended reason and rational thinking in deciding on their stance?

Or, you know - people who called Clinton a criminal (which i don't deny) but then accept every transgression, corruption and perversion of donald trump - because he's on their "side"?

Opinions aside - obviously my examples betray my own opinion - it does appear to be a suspension of reason, at least to me.
And that is what the article is talking about.
I don't think it's a particularly complex or controversial idea, is it?
 
Yeah sure, tribalism hasn't been eliminated just because we exist in groups of more than 150-200. People still desperately want to belong a group. And those outside their group become the 'other'. And then they turn the habits, mores and behaviours of that other into objects of disgust, disparagement or hate. Which helps them define themselves in contrast, and strengthen their own inter-tribal bonds.

From what I've read of social theory, in grossly simplified terms socialist-type people tend to view their tribe as a larger but less-defined entity, and conservatives tend to view theirs as a smaller closer-knit community. Which would account for significant differences in perspective between the two mindsets.
 
CFC said:
From what I've read of social theory, in grossly simplified terms socialist-type people tend to view their tribe as a larger but less-defined entity, and conservatives tend to view theirs as a smaller closer-knit community. Which would account for significant differences in perspective between the two mindsets.
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there's actually physiological differences between liberals and conservatives/reactionaries, the latter have larger amygdalas, which causes them to be driven by fear. When your world is defined by fear, differences are scary and threatening rather than merely being, well, different, which makes the tribe even more important because its their safe space. And since different means scary, you tend to get more intense tribalism and demonizing of others, because everyone who isn't part of the tribe is "the enemy".
 
the american president said:
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.
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alasdair
 
tathra said:
there's actually physiological differences between liberals and conservatives/reactionaries, the latter have larger amygdalas, which causes them to be driven by fear. When your world is defined by fear, differences are scary and threatening rather than merely being, well, different, which makes the tribe even more important because its their safe space. And since different means scary, you tend to get more intense tribalism and demonizing of others, because everyone who isn't part of the tribe is "the enemy".
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People who lean to the left also tend to be a lot more empathetic.

The most fucked up thing about tribalism in the contemporary context is the way people will happily take sides (in a number of ways) with nazis preaching genocide because they're "anti-SJW".

The term "social justice warrior" alone is just a laughable reflection on the worldview of people who use it. I mean, i know i'm also also engaging in tribalism by dismissing a huge segment of the political landscape in this way, but at least i'm aware of it.

I'm not naive or conceited enough to claim "i think for myself", because we are all informed by a range of ideologies and understandings of the world.

But i do value intellectual autonomy and above all else critical thinking.
 
spacejunk said:
But i do value intellectual autonomy and above all else critical thinking.
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tribalism and critical thinking are practically mutually exclusive. i cant even imagine the crazy huge amount of cognitive dissonance that conservatives deal with on a daily basis. the lack of integrity and intellectual honesty, and the constant refusals to discuss anything in good faith is appalling. the country is completely fucked, most likely beyond the point of being salvageable without a civil war, and the only thing they care about is how much "the left" (eg, everyone who isn't a fascist) dislikes what's going on; their only concern is causing harm to those that don't agree with them, and everyone is suffering for it, America most of all.
 
I can only imagine what it's like for you (non-trump supporter) folks in the US of A.

I mean, i have a pretty good idea from what i read and hear from friends and family who live in the USA - but i'm not experiencing it firsthand.

I always used to wonder how people could get behind despots, and wondered if that was some relic of the past; that maybe people wouldn't go in for that sort of thing any more.
That some how modernity and technolofy had somehow made such things impossible now - but i was wrong.

It's very cultish.
There is something very creepy about unquestioning support and devotion in the face of abuse.
How many of trump's supporters do you think are financially or otherwise better off under trump?

The whole thing is really bizarre to me.
Like - this harping on about "identity politics" is perplexing, because trump's whole campaign was run (and won) on a sense of wounded bitterness amongst privileged social groups telling themselves that they've been given a raw deal.
It's really weird.

The term "cult of personality" seems apt - but the appeal of trump's "personality" is very perplexing to me.
I mean, a lot of the rhetoric reminds me of the sort of banter you hear in nursing homes; nostalgia for an idealised time that never existed, resistance to socially progressive ideas and embracing ideas like segregation and celebrated police brutality and state-sanctioned cruelty in the form of (sectarian? Ethnic?) travel bans.

If trump decided to start - say - rounding up dissidents, do you think his supporters would speak up?

If he decided that all the left handed people needed to for re-education - what do you think then?

If he declared war on butterflies?

Sounds crazy huh?

What if he was threatening nuclear war with an erratic hermit state dictator? Would his fans question their devotion?

This shit is dangerous. I don't care so much what people think or who they support, but the unwavering loyalty of a chaotic trainwreck of a presidency is a surreal thing to witness.
It's disturbing as hell.
I really hope you guys can get through this period of madness, and that there will be an inhabitable world still there to clean up once he's done his dash.
Yes, i'm being dramatic, but nuclear war is no fucking game.
 
No, i'm very much aware of my tribe. It's a community of people - or multiple communities - and i'm totally aware of that and conscious of it.

I'm really uncomfortable with political and ideological dogma, which is why i don't believe or identify with any particular political party, belief system or ideology.

I'm critical of some ideas and people within "the left", and when somebody in a party, campaign or action i support does something i disagree with, i'm happy to call them out for it.
No blind loyalty, i don't defend people that do fucked up things, even if i share some political beliefs with them.

That's a very big difference.

Oh - also, i forgot an important part of the "nursing home" comparison i made in the post above.

Word salad.
Nonsensical streams of incoherent words. That's how trump speaks - very similar to people with dementia.
 
Yeah I'm pretty much the same, only on the right. I will always call out something I don't like, I've got no allegiances though I like a lot of what trump is doing right now, as far as the economy and globalism goes. Watched a vice on Australia and a Milo event. It blows my mind that folks there wave Gadsden flags and trump signs. I don't think they fully understand what American politics are and how different it is here. Still not sure how y'all consider Milo a Nazi, have you ever even listened to him. But I digress, I think politics are much much different over there and your read might be askew.
 
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