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From Conflict To Covid: How Shared Experiences Shape Our World And How They Could Improve It, Harvey Whitehouse

New England Journal of Public Policy

The human capacity for cooperation is at the root of many of the most impressive accomplishments of our species—from the evolution of language and tool use to the construction of pyramids and space stations. Although some forms of cooperation are motivated by self-interest or fear of punishment, the forms of cooperation that are most likely to succeed in the face of personal costs stem from love of the group. In this article, I consider one of the most intense forms of ingroup love known to psychology—identity fusion—resulting from shared suffering, from the battlefield and football pitch to the hospital ward …