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Evolution, culture, and the possibility of peace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Roy F. Baumeister
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia r.baumeister@psy.uq.edu.au https://roybaumeister.com
Brad J. Bushman*
Affiliation:
School of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA bushman.20@osu.edu https://u.osu.edu/bushman.20/
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Glowacki's work meshes well with our view of human nature as having evolved to use culture to improve survival and reproduction. Peace is a cultural achievement, requiring advances in social organization and control, including leaders who can implement policies to benefit the group, third-party mediation, and intergroup cooperation. Cultural advances shift intergroup interactions from negative-sum (war) to positive-sum (trade).

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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