<
https://www.positive.news/society/major-research-suggests-humans-can-break-free-from-tribalism/>
"Tribalism exerts a potent grip on us primitive humans, compelling us to place
loyalty and familiarity above reason and compassion in all sorts of ways. It
can be harmless and even fun, like supporting a beloved sports team, but the
so-called culture wars have shown how people can be pushed into tribal corners
with much more ominous results.
Take hope then, from a new piece of research that suggests humans have the
potential to overcome tribalist tendencies and significantly increase their
so-called ‘moral circle’ – the people they value and care about. Arranged by a
key player at the Global Compassion Coalition and released on Wednesday, the
findings are “potentially game-changing” according to the lead researcher.
Research has shown that we are also habitually drawn towards people and groups
who look or sound similar to us, our friends and family first of all. This
natural tribalism is often cited as a reason why cultural differences lead to
animosity and even violence.
What has been less clear is whether it is possible to overcome such tendencies
to help us extend our care and concern to people outside their ‘in group’. To
find out, researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia invited
people to take part in a study aimed at expanding their ‘circles of concern.’
Participants took part in a two-hour workshop designed to help them develop
more compassion for themselves and others. They were then asked to continue
with compassion-based exercises for two weeks.
The results showed that the intervention made a significant difference to
participants’ levels of concern for individuals beyond their immediate family
and friends. This included people who are stigmatised, and even so-called
‘villains’ such as murderers. It also increased people’s concern for the
environment and for sentient and non-sentient animals, researchers explained.
Crucially the results were shown to hold over time: a three-month follow-up
indicated that once expanded, people’s circles of concern continued to
encompass new groups and communities."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
