Liekuut | The high price of conflicts

In ‘Liekuut’, which is the Groningen dialect for straight ahead or straightforward, we regularly share the perspective of one of our academics on a topical issue. In this way, we show how UG researchers are contributing to the societal debate.

According to Carsten de Dreu, Professor of Foundations of Cooperation and Social Organization at the University of Groningen, a lot can be learned from conflicts. In a world where polarization seems to be on the rise, he highlights the importance of understanding how groups and conflicts work. Because they are expensive, resolving them is important. The key to that is having good intentions toward each other.

Impoverishment

‘Conflicts are a part of nature. Escalation is something we also see not only among human beings but also in other animals, such as chimpanzees. When habitat loss reduced their food supply, chimpanzees start fighting other clans to obtain their share of food. I wonder if the conflicts and us-versus-them mentality in our society are also related to a similar impoverishment. Looking at issues such as housing shortage and inflation, it isn't surprising that people at least have the feeling that things aren’t going well, that they're missing out on something.’

Us-versus-them mentality

‘This feeling of missing out on something makes us look for connections with like-minded people, because we are stronger together. But a group like that, the in-group, also creates an opponent, the out-group, who we blame for the problem. This is the foundation of us-versus-them thinking, which can cause a rift. Additionally, it is important to look at dynamics within groups. I believe that people often start fighting with the out-group to establish their place within the in-group. But this actually has nothing to do with the out-group itself. This internal group-dynamic where people support and validate each other, encourages people to do more for the group, which makes it even harder to mend this rift.’

Conflicts are expensive

Thinking in terms of ‘us’ is actually a natural phenomenon, it is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, we notice that a conflict with another group can give rise to and strengthen cooperation within groups. However, conflicts can also be very costly. Us-versus-them thinking can be beneficial to our own group, at the expense of the other group—at least as long as we are on the winning end, and not the other way around. But in the end, both groups almost always lose out. After all, if there is 100 in the jar, we can immediately split it so that each of us gets 50. But if we have a conflict, we won’t be eager to sit down together. When one group adopts the us-versus-them mentality, the other group will have to do the same to defend themselves. Adopting this mentality and defending yourself costs energy, money, material, and time. To do that, each of us takes 20 out of the jar of 100. In the end, we will have 60 in the jar, which we can split. We have the same amount as the other party, but less than we could have had in the beginning. In other words, conflicts are very costly.

Offer things to others

‘How do you end this? By talking to each other! It costs us less and we get the chance to learn something from each other. That’s the only way to progress, because digging in your heels isn't getting you anywhere. But it requires us to offer something from our jar to the other; we need to better understand each other. Why does that group want what they want? Why do they think like this? When you understand the needs of another group, you can find creative solutions together. Solution A may not work, but perhaps solution B can bring us to the goal! It’s possible that both groups aren’t actually as far apart from each other as we thought. But you can only find out by asking why. And the other party needs to have the courage to honestly answer the question.’

On Friday 21 March at 4.15 p.m., De Dreu will deliver his inaugural lecture titled ‘On Saints and Soldiers: Rethinking the Co-evolution of Group Cooperation and Conflict’, which will be held in the Auditorium of the Academy Building.