Tuesday, May 03, 2016

[dzubaucb] Taking one for the team

One curious human behavior is going out of your way to hurt someone, even taking actions which may hurt yourself when being lazy is an alternative.  For example, bullying, even in the face of prohibitions and punishment for bullying.  It seems irrational.

Hypothesize the behavior is social, in particular, a way of furthering the group to which one feels a membership even if it is at a cost to oneself: taking one for the team.  Often, the group in question is rather vague, perhaps a social class.

How does the feeling of group membership develop?

We can measure the strength of group membership by measuring the willingness to take one for the team.

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