Humans are parochial altruists: neurocognitive foundations with implications for intergroup negotiation

Humans have a stunning capacity for cooperation yet, at the same time, create and escalate conflict with often devastating consequences. Here I argue that both tendencies -- to cooperate and to aggress -- can be understood as manifestations of parochial altruism--the tendency to benefit, at a cost to oneself, the group to which one belongs and to fight or derogate rival out-groups. I present evidence that humans display parochialism because of in-group love more than out-group hate, that especially those with pro-social value orientations are parochial rather than universal altruists, and that parochial altruism is intuitive rather than calculated and deliberate. I conclude with the neurobiological origins of parochial altruism, focusing on the oxytonergic circuitry, and with implications for negotiation in intergroup competition and conflict.