Ask Lewis: Why Are Humans So Territorial

Reciprocal Altruism is not the same as pure altruism

When I was young, and in college, I was a New Age, “all is love” hippy. My heart is still there, but my life experience and present reality have led me to apply game theory strategies and an exploration of how humans tend to be highly territorial.

As we look at the world today and explore our history as a species, it can be useful to study important ideas concerning human social behaviors, especially concerning collaboration and competition.

Though I developed an interest in Game Theory in 2002, these questions about social behavior caught my attention when I was in college in the late 1960s.

I now at a professor's time and who, I believe, disliked me even more.

I was an anti-Vietnam War activist at the time and was organizing bus trips to Washington DC to protest the war. At the same time, I was doing my best to not get drafted into the military to fight in that war.

In 1969 this professor introduced me to the ideas of Robert Ardrey.

Ardrey, an anthropologist, presented his ideas in several important and popular books (African Genesis, The Territorial Imperative, and others).

He believed that human aggressiveness and war evolved from our hunting instincts. It is certainly a plausible idea. Research over the last sixty years concerning primates indicates that though territorial creatures, primates (including humans) though certainly territorial are also highly collaborative and are less likely to express aggression between members of the same species. Of course, there are many forms of territoriality and aggression. For instance, aggression against a member of a species versus aggression towards prey are two very different matters with different selection pressures, different instincts, and different evolutionary histories.

Of course, I am not a fan of taking one theorist and becoming an ideologue concerning their ideas. Still, Ardrey caught my attention.

I sort of had an “all is peace and love hippy meltdown.”

I do believe from my experience and decades of exploration, that humans tend to be…

· Territorial

· Competitive

· Collaborative

· Creative and innovative problem solvers

· Status Driven

· Hierarchical

· Motivated by cognitive biases and faith

· …And social creatures, prone to reciprocal altruism

With this as a foundation for my worldview, I have taken Ardrey’s ideas, and built on them through the writings of other ethologists and influential thinkers like Konrad Lorenz, and Robert Trivers Among the best books for those wishing to go down the portal of territoriality I recommend…

• The Fact of Evolution by Cameron M. Smith
• Darwin’s Ghosts, the Secret History of Evolution by Rebecca Stott
• The African Genesis by Robert Ardrey
• The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
• The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner

“…But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses. — Robert Ardrey

Ultimately the more evolved we become the fewer boundaries we need, since we are focusing more on what we need rather than what we think we want.

This is where reciprocal altruism (RA) comes in.

Reciprocal altruism is not related to true altruism — The principle and practice of concern for the well-being and/or happiness of other humans or animals above oneself. While objects of altruistic concern vary, it is an important moral value in many cultures and religions. It may be considered a synonym for selflessness, the opposite of selfishness, and different from usefulness. In R.A. The individual acting expects to benefit from the arrangement. This doesn’t fit the “selfless concern for the well-being of others” definition of altruism.

For R.A. to exist as true altruism the following would need to take place:

1. The individual acting does not expect an immediate or per-transaction payback.

2. The motive for acting may be selfless. The fact that such behaviors evolve (both biologically and culturally) due to “selfish” constraints such as survival rates does not imply anything about the motive of the actors.

3. A strict interpretation of altruism writes the phenomena out of existence. Some examples: sacrificing your life for a relative is selfish because your genes get to live on in someone else; volunteering for a cause is selfish because your reputation in the community improves; being nice to a disadvantaged person is selfish because it makes you feel good about yourself.

In my experience, especially in HAGT, true altruism in daily life is almost non-existent. There is almost, always a payoff (Called Utility in game theory). In the best of situations, the payoff may be no more than the satisfaction that you have served another person. That satisfaction alone makes it R.A. as opposed to pure altruism.

The Takeaway

Humans are territorial creatures, plain and simple. My Method each person needs to determine what that territory is through the study of all the elements in the 5 Modules I teach as a professional success coach and mentor.

How Do I Determine My Territory?

By applying what I teach to others.

· Intention

· Desired outcome

· Applied Game Theory

· The 27 Core Strategic Resources

· PEEPPASA (That which is Practical, Effective, Efficient, Productive, Precise, Accurate, and Self-aware.

· The merging of Critical Thinking with Intuition

The Portal

If you want to go down this Portal concerning territory, and for a more profound understanding of it all, I would begin with the film Quest for Fire — Here is the trailer

Furthermore, there have been many, many books on evolution, the development of humankind, and the need for territory I recommend;

· “Sapiens” the Yuval Harari;

· “The Cambridge History of Human Evolution”;

· “Born in Africa” by Martin Meredith; “The Hunting Hypothesis” by Robert Ardrey;

· “The Naked Ape” by Desmond Morris;

· “A Brief History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson, which mixes all of this with physics, quantum thought, and astronomy;

· Several books on natural history by Stephen Jay Gould.

…Of course, you can always discuss these things with me. Email me at [email protected]

©Lewis Harrison, all rights reserved.

Here are a few of my stories in a similar vein:

@LewisCoaches

@jennifer-dunne

@audreysdesk

Before you go…

I am Lewis Harrison, an award-winning author of over twenty books on personal growth and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.

Now, aside from writing on Medium, and connecting personally with my readers, I teach seminars and speak on personal development, and life strategies throughout the world. I am also the director at the Mystics Academy.

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