Nasty neighbor effect: People compete more with those in their group than outsiders

In a recent study published in the journal Science Advances , behavioral scientists in Europe examined whether people belonging to a group based on common language, nationality, or political ideology exhibited in-group favoritism in two situations of competition—one where they were trying to outcompete other in-group members and the other when they were trying to prevent being outcompeted by an in-group member. Study: The nasty neighbor effect in humans . Image Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi / Shutterstock Behavioral science studies have found that individuals who belong to groups bonded by commonalities in language, country of origin, or political ideology are more cooperative with members of their group than strangers or members of other groups.

This tendency, often referred to as parochialism or in-group favoritism, can be observed the world over. An inference from observations of in-group favoritism would be that members of a group would be more willing to compete with outsiders than with members of their group. However, most evidence for in-group favoritism comes from studies that have not independently examined the effects of competition.

People within a group are also more inclined to cooperate with in-group members while expending fewer resources when they can gain benefits that might come at a cost to others. Nonetheless, the absence of cooperation does not directly equate to the presence of competition, and cooperation within a group does not imply lower competition tow.