{"id":33922,"date":"2021-04-29T23:34:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T03:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33922"},"modified":"2021-05-02T23:26:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T03:26:30","slug":"human-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Cooperation Comes From Human Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is organized cooperation a uniquely human feature? What is the psychology behind mass human cooperation<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humanity has a much greater ability to communicate and cooperate than any other species. According to Yuval Noah Harari, the ability of humans to cooperate is the result of humanity’s knack for storytelling. Storytelling allowed us to create \u201cimagined orders\u201d which make mass cooperation possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about the psychology of mass human cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Psychology of Mass Human Cooperation <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Historically, humans have used their ability to flexibly cooperate to dominate both animals and other people. Power is usually maintained by the side that can adapt to its surroundings while maintaining strong communication and organization. For example, in pre-Soviet Russia, 3 million noblemen controlled 180 million commonfolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass organization on such a large scale requires the use of \u201cimagined orders,\u201d or rules and restrictions that people believe to be real, even if they\u2019re not grounded in an objective reality. To fully understand \u201cimagined orders,\u201d you must understand the ways in which people perceive reality<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objective reality<\/strong>: a reality that can be proven by science and exists regardless of one\u2019s personal beliefs. For example, gravity is an objective reality. Science has proven the existence of gravity, and it will continue to exist regardless of society\u2019s opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subjective reality<\/strong>: a reality that can\u2019t always be proven by science but feels real to a person or group. For example, pain is a subjective reality. The way that you experience pain is personal to you and may not reflect the way that other people perceive pain.\u25cf<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intersubjective reality<\/a>: <\/strong>a reality that relies on the communication and communal agreements between large groups of people. For example, money is an intersubjective reality. Human beings have attached worth to otherwise worthless materials. Take away its manufactured worth, and a dollar bill is just a piece of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cImagined orders\u201d rely on intersubjective reality.<\/strong> Governments and religious entities attach meaning to stories, laws, and gods, creating imagined orders in the process. Mass belief in the imagined orders is what allows humans to organize themselves into complex structures and cooperate on a scale that wouldn\u2019t be possible otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, most people don\u2019t want to believe that their current beliefs are intersubjective. By removing \u201cobjective\u201d meaning, intersubjectivity removes power from \u201cimagined orders\u201d and threatens stability on a national or global scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if soldiers no longer believe in the imagined order<\/a> that dying for your country is noble, they may lose meaning and stop fighting. While they may be controlled by the threat of court martial, if this feeling spreads to hundreds or thousands of soldiers, a country\u2019s military could collapse because it relies on this intersubjective belief to exist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is organized cooperation a uniquely human feature? What is the psychology behind mass human cooperation? Humanity has a much greater ability to communicate and cooperate than any other species. According to Yuval Noah Harari, the ability of humans to cooperate is the result of humanity’s knack for storytelling. Storytelling allowed us to create \u201cimagined orders\u201d which make mass cooperation possible. Keep reading to learn about the psychology of mass human cooperation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,9,24],"tags":[269],"class_list":["post-33922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-psychology","category-society","tag-homo-deus","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHuman Cooperation Comes From Human Storytelling - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Human cooperation on a mass scale requires the use of \u201cimagined orders.\u201d Without them, societies could collapse into chaos and anarchy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Human Cooperation Comes From Human Storytelling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human cooperation on a mass scale requires the use of \u201cimagined orders.\u201d Without them, societies could collapse into chaos and anarchy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-30T03:34:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-03T03:26:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hands-teamwork-collaboration-cooperation.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Human Cooperation Comes From Human Storytelling\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-30T03:34:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-03T03:26:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\"},\"wordCount\":460,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hands-teamwork-collaboration-cooperation.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Homo Deus\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/human-cooperation\/\",\"name\":\"Human Cooperation Comes From Human Storytelling - 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