where a certain degree of trust ensures cooperation and
mutual benefits. Biologist Matt Ridley coined the term
"groupishness" to describe the human tendency to join
groups. Modern ethnic conflicts, but also the harmless social
dynamics of fashions or the minor coalitions within any large
classroom, office, congregation, etc., illustrate the power of
this propensity.^30
Note that coalitions are a very special form of association.
To have a common goal is not sufficient to build a coalition;
you and I may wish our streets were cleaner, but that does not
[126] bring us into a coalition. It is not even sufficient that people
are aware of having the same goal and cooperate to achieve
that goal. For instance, factory workers need to coordinate
their work to produce a manufactured good but they do not
construe this as a coalition. The latter presupposes an activity
in which joining is (presumably) voluntary, defection is possi-
ble, benefits accrue with cooperation and there is a notable
cost in being a cooperator when others defect.
Group action will allow you to reap great benefits as long as
everyone is in it together. But then in many situations it may
be much more profitable for some individuals to withdraw
cooperation at an awkward moment. Your hunting partner
might put you in great danger by running for his life precisely
when he was supposed to attack. Your comrade in the office
conspiracy might spill the beans to please the boss. There is
just no ironclad guarantee that people will not blab or run
away, or to put it more generally, defect to protect or enhance
their immediate interest. This is why so few species actually
have coalitions (chimpanzees and dolphins build alliances but
not to the same scale and with the same stability as the human
version). Coalitions require complicated computation, and
therefore the mental capacities to run these computations in
an intuitive, automatic way.^31
To make this clear, it may be of help to list the conditions that must
obtain in a coalition:
x You behave in such a way as to enhance the benefits gained by
other members of the group but not those of nonmembers.
x This behavior toward other members does not require that you
receive a particular benefit for helping them.RELIGION EXPLAINED