Feeling spiteful? Blame your genes: Desire to hurt others evolved to stop outsiders being allowed to join social groups
- The model was developed by researchers at Queen's University in Canada
- It found that individuals who appear very different from most others in a group will evolve to be altruistic towards similar partners
- But individuals who appear very similar to the rest of a group will evolve to be very spiteful to outsiders, often going to extreme lengths to hurt them
The definition of spite is a desire to harm or anger someone, especially if you feel you've been mistreated in some way.
It's common across many social groups and cultures, and now scientists believe that genetics may play a role in this desire.
A team of psychologists, biologists and mathematicians has discovered that the more similar a person is within a group, the more spiteful they are to outsiders.
A team of psychologists, biologists and mathematicians has discovered that the more similar a person is within a group, the more spiteful they are to outsiders - and this may have developed to protect the structure, and ultimately the genetics, of a social community
And this may have developed to protect the structure, and ultimately the genetics, of a social community.
The model was developed by researchers D.B Krupp and Peter Taylor at Queen's and the One Earth Future Foundation.
They found that individuals who appear very different from most others in a group will evolve to be altruistic towards similar partners, and only slightly spiteful to those who are dissimilar to them.
However, individuals who appear very similar to the rest of a group will evolve to be only slightly altruistic to similar partners but very spiteful to dissimilar individuals, often going to extreme lengths to hurt them.
Taken together, individuals with 'common' and 'rare' appearances may treat each other very differently.
'Similar individuals are more likely to share copies of each other's genes and dissimilar individuals are less likely to.
'As a consequence, evolutionary theory predicts that organisms will often discriminate, because helping similar partners and harming dissimilar ones increase the fraction of the discriminating party's genes in future generations,' said Dr. Krupp.
This finding is a new twist on the established evolutionary theory, and could help explain racism and corresponding forms of prejudice in humans and other species.
The new theoretical model was developed using inclusive fitness theory.
The spite model (stock image) was developed using inclusive fitness theory - a biological framework that looks at how an organism's behaviour affects its own reproductive success, as well as that of its neighbours. The finding could help explain racism and corresponding forms of prejudice in humans and other species
This is a biological framework that looks at how an organism's behaviour affects its own reproductive success as well as that of its neighbours.
'We tend to think of individuals as caring only about what another individual looks, smells or sounds like, but our model shows that the appearance of surrounding neighbours matters tremendously, too,' continued Dr. Krupp.
'This work predicts extreme differences in behaviour between what we call 'common' and 'rare' types of individuals - those that are similar or dissimilar to their neighbours.'
Most watched News videos
- Shocking moment bike opens fire on Turkish restaurant in Dalston
- Hillary Clinton reacts to Donald Trump verdict with a wry smile
- Moment police officer is dragged down by car driver in tactical stop
- Moment woman kills pensioner with Alzheimer's in 'red mist' shove
- 16-year-old student asks Rishi Sunak why he 'hates' young people
- Protest march organised by Tommy Robinson held in Parliament Square
- Biden shares new ceasefire plan Israel is proposing to Hamas
- Thousands join Tommy Robinson for far-right demo in central London
- Shocking moment bike opens fire on Turkish restaurant in Dalston
- Moment police arrest Tommy Robinson protester at London demonstration
- Hamas publishes horrifying 'psychological terror' video of hostage
- Nigel Farage says he backs Trump 'more than ever' after conviction