The positives of playing favorites
Though often portrayed as unfair or a character flaw, in many instances “playing favorites can be a winning strategy,” a Harvard researcher says. As described in a paper in Scientific Reports, a study led by Feng Fu, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, found that in-group favoritism — the tendency of people to help other members of the same group — is critical in establishing high-level cooperation that ultimately benefits the whole. “We found that playing favorites is a winning strategy because it fosters a very high level of in-group cooperation,” Fu said. “So the group benefits a lot as a result of this cooperation. And because the group performs better than others, its members benefit as well. As the group becomes more successful, it attracts new members, and that success reinforces the tendency toward cooperation between group members.” “Human societies are both highly cooperative and exquisitely organized, and various...