xYou expect similar dispositions and behavior toward you from
other members (and of course not from nonmembers).
xAs a result, whether it is a good thing for you to be in the group is
computed by comparing the benefits with the costs incurred in
interaction with all other members, not with each of them. (For
instance, in a particular association you may be constantly helping
X and receiving help from Y; if this is a coalition you will balance
the two and disregard the fact that you are in some sense
exploiting Y and exploited by X.)
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xYou represent the behavior of members of other groups as being in
some sense the whole group's behavior. (If you are a Tory and a
Labour militant attacks you, you think of that as an attack from
Labour, not just from that person.)
xYour reactions to how a member of another group behaves are
directed to the group, not specifically to the individual in question.
If the Labour militant has attacked you, it makes sense for you to
retaliate by attacking another Labour member.
xYou represent the various groups as "big agents." For instance, you
think what is happening in the political arena is that "Labour is
trying to do this.. ." or "the Tory party is doing that.. ." although
parties cannot literally be trying to do anything, as they are not
persons.
x You are extremely concerned with other members' loyalty. That is,
whether the others in your group are reliably loyal to the group or
not (regardless of how it affects you directly) is a matter of great
emotional effects. This is manifest in several different ways. You
feel a desire to punish those people who have defected from the
coalition; you may also want to punish those who failed to punish
the defectors; you may want to screen people by submitting them
to various ordeals in which they have to incur substantial costs to
demonstrate their loyalty.^32
I describe these conditions in some detail—however painfully
obvious they may all seem—because this shows how building
coalitions requires complex computation. The fact thatTHE KIND OF MIND ITTAKES