Philosophy
We cooperate with family, build friendships, run organisations and create societies. Yet we also distrust outsiders, compete for status and sometimes cooperate intensely within our own group while acting against others.
Perhaps humanity does not mainly lack the capacity to cooperate. Perhaps we struggle to activate it across the boundaries that divide us. Psychology helps us understand those boundaries — and the movement offers ways to respond to them.
And our sense of who "we" are can keep widening — from those closest to us, to all of humanity, and finally to all living things.
1
We readily form groups — and tend to trust our own more and judge outsiders more harshly. Hostility is not inevitable; it varies between people and situations.
What this means for us: You don't have to stop being one of us to recognise that they are human, too.
2
Cooperation comes easily in personal, repeated relationships. It is harder when those affected are strangers, far away or not yet born.
What this means for us: Make distant people and long-term consequences feel real, and show that others are contributing, too.
3
Beliefs often become part of who we are, so questioning them can feel like questioning our community.
What this means for us: Being able to reconsider a belief is a strength, not a betrayal.
4
When people feel their safety, resources or way of life is threatened, their circle of concern narrows.
What this means for us: Ask not only how to make people care more, but how to make cooperation feel safe, fair and worthwhile.
5
We learn from those around us what is expected. Norms can support cooperation — or reinforce exclusion.
What this means for us: Listening across differences must become something people see, practise and respect every day.
6
We care how others see us. Some environments reward confrontation more than listening or compromise.
What this means for us: Admire people for admitting mistakes, representing opposing views fairly and bringing people together.
7
What benefits one person, company or country now can harm everyone later — climate change is a clear example.
What this means for us: Personal growth is necessary but not sufficient. We need people who can cooperate, and systems that make it viable.
8
Languages, laws, institutions and shared purposes already let strangers cooperate on a vast scale.
What this means for us: We don't need to replace human nature — only develop the practices that bring out our capacity to cooperate more widely.
We can belong to our family, community, country, humanity — and the wider web of life — at the same time. These identities don't have to compete. The widest circle of concern can include all living things, without replacing the others.
From narrow identity to overlapping identities
All living things
The natural world we share
Humanity
Our shared human community
Country and society
Community and culture
Conceptual illustration of overlapping levels of belonging, not a hierarchy of importance, extending to all life.
We don't need to feel equally close to everyone to recognise that our responsibilities extend beyond the people closest to us.
The largest circle is life itself. Our wellbeing depends on animals, plants and healthy ecosystems, and caring for them is part of caring for each other.
Explore the Circles of Responsibility·Our Position: Animal Life & Nature
Recognise our psychological tendencies.
What influences the way I see people who are different from me?
Build relationships across boundaries.
How can I build trust with someone I don't automatically identify with?
Turn understanding into shared action.
What can we achieve together that neither of us could achieve alone?
The free Learning Path app has a theme called The Psychology of Cooperation — six short modules to recognise these tendencies in yourself and practise wider cooperation.
Explaining a tendency is not the same as justifying it: favouring our own group never makes discrimination acceptable. Psychology is one part of the picture, alongside culture, institutions, incentives, leadership and history. Humans evolved for both cooperation and competition — we are not programmed to behave in only one way, and how large-scale cooperation developed is still actively researched.
Further reading: research on parochial altruism, human cooperation and cultural evolution published in Annual Reviews, Nature Human Behaviour and ScienceDirect journals.
Add your name to the growing number of people working toward a more cooperative humanity.