The impact of distance on parochial altruism: an experimental investigation

Abstract

Parochial altruism – individual sacrifice to benefit the in-group and harm an out-group – undermines inter-group cooperation and is implicated in a plethora of politically-significant behaviors. We report experimental evidence about the impact of variation in individuals’ distance to in-group members and to out-group members on parochial altruism in a setting in which inter-group conflict is made possible. We find that distance has systematic effects on individual choice. Parochial altruism is stimulated particularly when individuals’ distance to both their in- and out-group is high. Our results suggest that high distance may create a pathway to group-based individual action. Existing research focuses on the interaction between close-knit in-groups and proximate, threatening out-groups as the typical setting in which parochial altruism occurs. Our study indicates the need for future research to investigate how parochial altruism can occur across a wider range of in-group and out-group configurations.