Human Competition vs Human Cooperation

PARTICIPANT EXERCISE
Is This Truly a Human Universal?

Many researchers today argue that evolution produced broad psychological capacities, such as:

- cooperation
- competition
- norm enforcement
- reputation tracking
- social learning

But different cultures then shape how these capacities are expressed.

Thus humans may universally possess the capacity for both cooperation and competition, even though their expression varies across societies.

Certain psychological traits or social behaviors appear in every human society. These are called human universals.

But not every proposed trait is truly universal. Some claims turn out to be culture-specific or insufficiently verified.

This exercise helps us distinguish between:

• well-supported human universals
• probable but debated universals
• traits that are culturally variable

One influential catalog of human universals was compiled by Donald E. Brown in Human Universals.

For each proposed trait below, discuss with the group and decide whether it is:

A — Likely a human universal
B — A probable capacity but culturally variable
C — Not universal / culturally dependent

Be ready to explain your reasoning.

Proposed Traits/Capacities

Social Behavior
1. Humans form family structures
2. Humans form status hierarchies
3. Humans cooperate toward shared goals
4. Humans compete for status
5. Humans enforce social rules

Moral Psychology
6. Humans judge actions as right or wrong
7. Humans feel empathy toward suffering
8. Humans feel anger at cheating or unfairness
9. Humans feel shame when violating norms

Cultural Behavior
10. Humans tell stories or myths
11. Humans use symbolic communication
12. Humans teach younger members of society

More Controversial Claims
13. Humans possess an innate “cheater-detection module”
14. Humans possess universal mating preferences
15. Humans possess fixed gender-specific psychological modules

Group Discussion
After discussing your answers, consider the following questions:

1. Which traits seemed most clearly universal?
2. Which claims were harder to evaluate?
3. What kind of evidence would be required to establish a genuine human universal?
4. Why might evolutionary theories sometimes propose traits that are difficult to verify?