New research investigating how we adhere to certain unspoken codes of conduct and appearance may give us insight into extremist behavior. And with this weekss deadly terrorist bombings in Manchester, England that targeted an Ariana Grande concert, many people are debating what motivates individuals to take extreme steps like suicide bombing. Answering the question of how humans evolved to cooperate with groups and internalize social norms even when doing so can be detrimental to their safety and wellbeing was the goal of a study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Researchers from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and University of California, Davissay that in todays society suicide bombings and other self-sacrificial acts could be viewed as an example of oversocialized individuals. Individuals like this are willing to make extreme sacrifices that place the interests of a specific group and its values above all else. For those extreme individuals, acting in the interest of that group trumps individual interests.You can think of people willing to go to the extreme to defend or promulgate what they believe is right, Sergey Gavrilets,lead author of a the study and a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville told HuffPost.The study authors used computer simulated models to analyze genetic factors that might influence whether or not individuals followed social norms. After running many simulations, built on previous public good games research, researchers found a high degree of variation among peoples ability to internalize norms.Through the model, a relatively small percentage of people emerged as oversocialized, following the social norms of their self-identified group at any cost.Beyond terrorists and martyrs, oversocialized individuals could also be individuals who organize group cooperation, such as tribal leaders in small-scale societies.Depending on the situations they can be viewed as heroes, saints, or the worst villains.A different study Gavrilets worked on, published in the journal Nature in March, found that negative or harmful shared group experiences can bond people together and could groom them for extreme self-sacrifice. An example of this could be soldiers preparing for war.You can think of people willing to go to the extreme to defend or promulgate what they believe is right.Sergey Gavrilets, lead study author On the other end of the spectrum are whats known as undersocialized individuals, who aretotally immune to social norms and only care about their own material benefits, Gavrilets explained.Some psychopaths can be an example.Of course, most people are neither over- nor under-socialized, and instead follow social norms of their society to an intermediate degree.The study also examined free riders, or individuals who dont participate in collective group actions, even though those actions might benefit the individual. (A teammate who doesnt give his full effort in a game of tug war would be an example of a free rider.) Interestingly, the researchers found that peer punishment, such as shaming, shunning or spreading rumors about free riders, was the most effective mechanism for getting them to cooperate with the group. Less punitive measures of encouraging group norms, such as promoting participation in group effort, were less effective at getting individuals to comply.As for if the new findings could be applied to counter-terrorism efforts, Gavrilets noted that their model would need to be rigorously tested before it could be practically applied to policy.What weve done is a step in that direction, he said.This reporting is brought to you by HuffPosts health and science platform, The Scope. Like us onFacebookandTwitterand tell us your story: scopestories@huffingtonpost.com. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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