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Evolutionarily stable in-group favoritism and out-group spite in intergroup conflict

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  • Kai A. Konrad
  • Florian Morath

Abstract

We study conflict between two groups of individuals. Using Schaffer's (1988) concept of evolutionary stability we provide an evolutionary underpinning for in-group altruism combined with spiteful behavior towards members of the rival out-group. We characterize the set of evolutionarily stable combinations of in-group favoritism and out-group spite and find that an increase in in-group altruism can be balanced by a decrease in spiteful behavior towards the out-group.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai A. Konrad & Florian Morath, 2011. "Evolutionarily stable in-group favoritism and out-group spite in intergroup conflict," Working Papers evolutionarily_stable, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpi:wpaper:evolutionarily_stable
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    Cited by:

    1. Kai A. Konrad, 2011. "Strategie Aspects of Fighting in Alliances," Working Papers strategie_aspects_of_figh, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    2. Eswaran, Mukesh, 2018. "Decentralized Terrorism and Social Identity," Microeconomics.ca working papers tina_marandola-2018-4, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 06 Jun 2018.
    3. Changxia Ke & Kai A. Konrad & Florian Morath, 2015. "Alliances In The Shadow Of Conflict," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 854-871, April.
    4. Kai A. Konrad & Florian Morath, 2016. "Evolutionary determinants of war," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 520-534, August.
    5. Herbst, Luisa & Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2015. "Endogenous group formation in experimental contests," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 163-189.
    6. Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2016. "Bargaining with incomplete information: Evolutionary stability in finite populations," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 118-131.
    7. Kai A. Konrad & Florian Morath, 2021. "The volunteer’s dilemma in finite populations," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 1277-1290, September.
    8. Marcel Montrey & Thomas R. Shultz, 2019. "Outgroup Homogeneity Bias Causes Ingroup Favoritism," Papers 1908.08203, arXiv.org.
    9. Roman M. Sheremeta, 2018. "Behavior In Group Contests: A Review Of Experimental Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 683-704, July.
    10. Kris De Jaegher, 2021. "Common‐Enemy Effects: Multidisciplinary Antecedents And Economic Perspectives," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 3-33, February.
    11. Cheikbossian, Guillaume, 2021. "Evolutionarily stable in-group altruism in intergroup conflict over (local) public goods," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 206-226.
    12. Benny Geys & Kai A. Konrad, 2016. "Patriotism and Taxation," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2016-11, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    13. Cheikbossian, Guillaume, 2021. "The evolutionary stability of in-group altruism in productive and destructive group contests," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 236-252.
    14. Florian Heine & Martin Strobel, 2020. "Reward and punishment in a team contest," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-25, September.
    15. Parashari, Gopal Sharan & Kumar, Vimal, 2020. "Destruction and settlement norms as determinants of conflict: An evolutionary perspective," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).

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    Keywords

    altruism; spite; in-group favoritism; conflict; evolutionary stability; indirect evolutionary approach;
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