What Are Tribal Instincts?

Фото Nate Blank на Unsplash

In recent years, I’ve been following politics quite a bit (I guess that too comes with age). The more I compare the present with history, the clearer it becomes to me that people aren’t really governed by reason. It’s becoming increasingly obvious how deeply tribal instincts shape world politics and history. Yet they are mostly ignored.

Even psychologists rarely mention tribal instincts at all. I’ve read plenty of psychological literature, but if I ever came across that term, it was only mentioned in passing. If you google the term in my native language (Croatian), you’ll find almost nothing. That surprises me, considering how strong an influence tribal instincts have on human behavior — especially since scientists analyze practically every other element of our existence in minute detail.

Politicians either completely ignore tribal instincts or exploit them to the detriment of the people. Some appeal to reason or blame the public (both ineffective), while others use those instincts to fuel division. Without a better understanding of tribal instincts, progress will be difficult.

As a child, I believed that wars—at least in our part of the world—were mostly a thing of the past. Even when war broke out in my country, I convinced myself it was an anomaly, that people had simply been misled. Distant wars, the ones I heard about on the news, I explained by ignorance and a lack of emotional health. I believed good upbringing could change everything. In part, it can, as we can see from the last few generations in Western Europe. But on the other hand, as soon as the sense of safety is even slightly disturbed, tribal instincts resurface—sometimes regardless of upbringing.

How do tribal instincts manifest?

Most people don’t think much about why it’s so important to them that their national team wins in, say, football. Or why they glorify their own gender, profession, or social class compared to others. Why they’d rather offer a job to a relative or friend than to someone (even more qualified) they don’t know. Why they stop feeling “at home” once they cross a national border. Why they care so much about what other nations think of theirs. We simply take it for granted.

Tribal instincts are at the root of our frequent urge to compete with other nations, continents, regions, families — even in the most trivial matters. Post a question online about which country has the most beautiful people or the best food, and you’ll see arguments erupt. We can also feel a sense of belonging to an “ideological tribe,” most obviously when it comes to politics or religion.

Tribal instincts can also have random, short-term effects. When you were in school, you probably felt belonging to your class — and sometimes competition with other classes in the same school. But if your class was told to split into groups, suddenly each group would start competing with the others. Even if only for half an hour, that random little group would become your tribe.

Clearly, tribal instincts connect us on levels beyond biological kinship. People who lack a sense of community can easily attach themselves to various cults, which seem to fulfill that need.

Tribal instincts can even partially influence our desire to have children — or at least our wish that others have them.

Like all biologically conditioned drives and traits, this one isn’t equally strong in everyone. In modern politics too, we can see that in every country, some people are more driven by it than others — and each extreme finds it hard to understand the other.

The benefits of tribal instincts

Tribal instincts aren’t just a whim of nature. Humanity evolved and survived thanks to our drive to live in groups and help one another. It seems our brains are biologically wired to perceive about 140 people as “close” (the so-called Dunbar number). This brings several key benefits:

1. A sense of belonging and love for one’s community. This encourages mutual help and support. Throughout history (and especially prehistory), it literally ensured our survival. The smaller and more cohesive a community, the less crime there tends to be.
2. Shared child-rearing. Although in today’s fragmented societies this function has weakened, mutual help in raising children is natural for humans. If parents die or fall ill, the community generally takes care of the child.
3. Collective defense. When a community is attacked, tribal instincts lead us to defend it together rather than think only of ourselves. (Of course, not everyone is the same — different people may have traits that weaken this drive.)
4. Transmission of knowledge and culture. Tribal instincts lead us to value our culture and pass it on to our descendants.
5. Desire for communal progress. Throughout history, many scientists and thinkers sought new knowledge not for personal gain, but for the common good. Even today, despite the commercialization of science, part of that collective motivation remains. And it’s not limited to science — anything ever done for the common good owes something to tribal instincts.

The harm caused by tribal instincts

Like many things in nature, tribal instincts help ensure the survival of the species — but not necessarily the quality of life of the individual.

1. Wars. The countless wars we’ve learned about in history can all be “thanked” to tribal instincts. It’s often shocking how quickly and easily they can blind us and drive us to violence. While wars usually begin with the greed and lust for power of a ruler, it’s tribal instinct that drives people to follow and remain in the fight.
2. Nepotism and corruption. Most countries suffer greatly from these. Corruption is, of course, an expression of personal greed, but it’s often mixed with the feeling that “my family is more important than the common good.” Not all forms of tribal loyalty are equally valuable. Interestingly, tribal loyalty often even outweighs self-interest — for example, when a craftsman would rather hire an incompetent relative (or a member of his own nation/race) than a stranger with better qualifications.
3. Cruelty. Sometimes the need to belong to the tribe can even outweigh love for one’s own family — as in the cases of “honor killings” or female genital mutilation in some parts of the world. It can drive us to reject and isolate those who don’t conform — for example, people who don’t attend church or who challenge gender norms. Children, too, often mock peers for the slightest deviation from the group.
4. Silencing dissent. Especially in ideological contexts, group harmony is often maintained by rejecting any questioning — of ideas or of leaders. This paves the way for increasingly simplistic ideas and increasingly extreme leaders. Many good ideas end up being badly abused this way.
5. Blind attachment to tradition. In some nations there is still strong resistance to changing “how our ancestors did things,” even when those traditions are irrational or harmful. This is often tied to religion. From child marriage and genital mutilation to outdated parenting methods and rigid dress or dietary codes — the examples are endless.
   This tendency is especially strong among people who feel like minorities in a foreign country. They may cling to their traditions long after those practices have faded in their homelands. The more insecure such groups feel, the more tightly they hold on to their tribal identity, in which they seek safety.

What can be done?

Sometimes I think the only way to rid ourselves of wars and extreme ideologies would be through some sort of collective genetic engineering. Yes, I know it’s almost impossible and that the risk of misuse would be enormous — but at least it’s a nice thought experiment. It’s hard to imagine any other way to significantly weaken tribal instincts.

Safety and prosperity

Although there are exceptions, it’s clear that nations which feel secure — both numerically and materially — tend to become more relaxed and tolerant toward what is new and different. Ideally, wealthier countries would jointly help poorer ones develop. That would greatly reduce both fundamentalism and the need for mass migration. Unfortunately, tribal instincts push us toward competition for dominance rather than cooperation.

Balance

Anything in nature that goes out of balance eventually must return to it — often painfully. Even good intentions, when taken to extremes, can have very bad consequences. Losing balance doesn’t only mean oversimplified ideology or excessive change — it can also mean too rapid change. We need to consider the complexity of every situation, not just simple ideology — but that’s easy to say and hard to get people to understand.

Responsibility

Responsibility is needed on all sides, not just some. Otherwise, the irresponsible will gladly exploit the responsible. Ideally, each group would encourage responsibility among its own members. If people only criticize others, that will only provoke more anger and entrenchment in the opposing camp. But it’s unlikely that people will collectively begin acting responsibly regarding their tribal instincts — at least not in the foreseeable future.

Upbringing

Although tribal instincts are primarily biologically conditioned, like all biological drives, they can be modified through upbringing. Not just by teaching children rational thinking, but in a deeper way.

One of the key aspects of upbringing is helping — or allowing — children to develop their own identity. The more stable a person feels in their individual identity, the less they will seek it through group belonging. More liberal cultures tend to succeed better at this — though that too has some potential downsides. Once again, responsibility lies on all sides.

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