Parochial Altruism: Measurement Issues

  • Date: Oct 24, 2018
  • Time: 05:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Robert Böhm
  • RWTH Aachen University
  • Location: MPI
  • Room: Ground Floor

Aiming to explain human engagement in violent intergroup conflict, the theory of parochial altruism proposes a joint evolution of altruism and parochialism. The empirical evidence supporting this account, however, is mixed. In this talk, I will dissolve the confusion regarding both the independent measurement of altruism and parochialism (as the independent variables) as well as of conflict engagement (as the dependent variable). A refined semantic framework and measurement may help to explain the mixed results of previous research.

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