Dr. David Eagleman

It's everything about in-groups and out-groups.

Okay.

So it turns out this is such a low-level response.

Now, happily, this doesn't necessarily map on to how you act as a person.

This is just your first response.

You care more about your in-groups.

Other labs, like Tanya Singer and others, have shown very similar versions of this with even things like sports teams.

In fact, one of the experiments we did was –

We brought fresh people in and we said, hey, I want you to toss a coin.

If it's heads, you're a Justinian.

If it's tails, you're an Augustinian.

So they toss the coin.

They find out what they are.

We give them a wristband that reminds them that they're Justinian or Augustinian.

Then they go in the scanner and they see Justinian or Augustinian hands getting stabbed.

And it turns out they have a bigger response predicated on their team.

Completely arbitrary label.

It doesn't mean anything.

But this is how we are wired very much – very strongly for in-groups and out-groups.

Obviously, this is a real problem for everything we're witnessing around us.