Durkheim, Indoctrinability and the Moral Ambivalence of Human Sociality

Humans tend to be prosocial towards in-group members, but often hostile towards out-group members. In line with ethology and evolutionary psychology, this study develops the concept of Durkheimian learning, meaning that groups actively integrate individuals by cultural transmission of behavioral norms. Yet humans might have genetically evolved predispositions for indoctrinability and constrained learning of what is adaptive for self-interested individuals living in groups. In-group prosociality might have coevolved with tendencies towards out-group rejection. The mechanism behind this outcome might have been cultural-group selection in combination with gene-culture co-evolution. The feasibility of the argument will be illustrated by two simulation experiments of a selfish-teamwork game. Inspired by the Price equation of multilevel selection, the simulations combine fuzzy group-boundaries and between-group competition with cooperative behavior and intergenerational cultural transmission of prosocial behavior within groups. Results show that group boundaries, e.g. due to cultural markers, can explain the evolution of cooperative behavior. However, efficient Durkheimian learning and intergroup competition might have accelerated its expansion, despite of considerable levels of between-group migration. This insight will be discussed in the light of recent arguments from cultural evolutionary psychology.