Skip to main content

Possible Evolutionary Origins of Nationalism

Political Behavior volume 43, pages 1685–1705 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Why do some individuals support nationalist policies while others don’t? The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis in evolutionary psychology suggests that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel values whereas less intelligent individuals may be more likely to hold evolutionarily familiar values. Nationalism is evolutionarily familiar, so the Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis suggests that less intelligent individuals may be more likely to be nationalist. The analyses of the General Social Survey (GSS) data in the US and the National Child Development Study (NCDS) data in the UK confirmed the prediction. Less intelligent Americans were more likely to have nationalist attitudes, and less intelligent British voters were more likely to support nationalist parties in five general elections over three decades. The tendency of less intelligent individuals to be more nationalist and belligerent may, among other things, form the microfoundation of democratic peace in international relations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Data Availability

All replication materials are available at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VCWAXV.

References

  • Abelson, R. P. (1985). A variance explanation paradox: When a little is a lot. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 129–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, A., Blackwell, M., & Sen, M. (2016). Explaining causal findings without bias: Detecting and assessing direct effects. American Political Science Review, 110, 512–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.

  • Bertoli, A. D. (2017). Nationalism and conflict: Lessons from international sports. International Studies Quarterly, 61(4), 835–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonikowski, B. (2016). Nationalism in settled times. Annual Review of Sociology, 42, 427–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonikowski, B., & DiMaggio, P. (2016). Varieties of American popular nationalism. American Sociological Review, 81(5), 949–980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bueno de Mesquita, B., Morrow, J., Siverson, R., & Smith, A. (1999). An institutional explanation of the democratic peace. American Political Science Review, 93(4), 791–808.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chagnon, N. A. (1997). Yanomamö. Harcourt Brace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Citrin, J., Haas, E. B., Muste, C., & Reingold, B. (1994). Is American nationalism changing? Implications for foreign policy. International Studies Quarterly, 38(1), 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, G., & Harpending, H. (2009). The 10,000 year explosion: How civilization accelerated human evolution. Basic.

  • Cotton, S. M., Kiely, P. M., Crewther, D. P., Thomson, B., Laycock, R., & Crewther, S. G. (2005). A normative and reliability study for the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices for primary school aged children from Victoria, Australia. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(3), 647–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darlington, R. B. (1990). Regression and linear models. McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Vries, C. E. (2018). The cosmopolitan–parochial divide: Changing patterns of party and electoral competition in the Netherlands and beyond. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(11), 1541–1565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deary, I. J., Batty, D. G., & Gale, C. R. (2008). Childhood intelligence predicts voter turnout, voting preferences, and political involvement in adulthood: The 1970 British Cohort Study. Intelligence, 36(6), 548–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon, W. J. (1994). Democracy and the peaceful settlement of international conflict. American Political Science Review, 88(1), 14–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, M. W. (1983). Kant, liberal legacies and foreign affairs: Part 1. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 12(3), 205–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003). Does rejection hurt? An fMRI study of social exclusion. Science, 302(5643), 290–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funder, D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (2019). Evaluating effect size in psychological research: Sense and nonsense. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2, 156–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and nationalism. Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Mainstream science on intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history, and bibliography. Intelligence, 24(1), 13–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenfeld, L. (1992). Nationalism: Five roads to modernity. Harvard University Press.

  • Hassin, R. R., Ferguson, M. J., Shidlovski, D., & Gross, T. (2007). Subliminal exposure to national flags affects political thought and behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(50), 19757–19761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hechter, M. (2000). Containing nationalism. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilbe, J. M. (2007). Negative binomial regression. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E. (1990). Nations and nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, M.-H., & Hauser, R. M. (1998). Trends in black-white test-score differentials: II. The WORDSUM vocabulary test. In U. Neisser (Ed.), The rising curve: Long-term gains in IQ and related measure (pp. 303–332). American Psychological Association.

  • Hutchinson, J., & Smith, A. D. (Eds.) (1994). Nationalism. Oxford University Press.

  • Jensen, A. R. (1997). The g factor: The science of mental ability. Praeger.

  • Jensen, A. R. (1980). Bias in mental testing. Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2004a). The Savanna Principle. Managerial and Decision Economics, 25(1), 41–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2004b). General intelligence as a domain–specific adaptation. Psychological Review, 111(2), 512–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2010a). Why liberals and atheists are more intelligent. Social Psychology Quarterly, 73(1), 33–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2010b). Evolutionary psychology and intelligence research. American Psychologist, 65(4), 279–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2012). The intelligence paradox: Why the intelligent choice isn’t always the smart one. Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2014a). Intelligence and childlessness. Social Science Research, 48, 157–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2014b). Intelligence and obesity: Which way does the causal direction go? Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity, 21, 339–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2017). Higher intelligence and later maternal age: Which way does the causal direction go? Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 65, 1884–1887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S. (2019). Cognitive function and crossword puzzles: Which way does the causal direction go? International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 34, 1734–1735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanazawa, S., & Hellberg, J. E. E. U. (2010). Intelligence and substance use. Review of General Psychology, 14(4), 382–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemmelmeier, M., & Winter, D. G. (2008). Sowing patriotism, but reaping nationalism? Consequences of exposure to the American flag. Political Psychology, 29(6), 859–879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, H. (1944). The idea of nationalism: A study in its origins and background. Macmillan.

  • Lowry, R. (2019). The case for nationalism: How it made us powerful, united, and free. Broadside.

  • MacMillan, J. (2003). Beyond the separate democratic peace. Journal of Peach Research, 40(2), 233–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A. S., & Kanazawa, S. (2007). Why beautiful people have more daughters. Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. F., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51(2), 77–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noury, A., & Roland, G. (2020). Identity politics and populism in Europe. Annual Review of Political Science, 23, 421–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ray, J. L. (1998). Does democracy cause peace? Annual Review of Political Science, 1, 27–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rummel, R. (1983). Libertarianism and international violence. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 27(1), 27–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrock-Jacobson, G. (2012). The violent consequences of the nation: Nationalism and the initiation of interstate war. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 56(5), 825–852.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shayer, M., & Ginsburg, D. (2009). Thirty years on—A large anti-Flynn effect? (II): 13- and 14-year-olds. Piagetian tests of formal operations norms 1976–2006/7. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(3), 409–418.

  • Shayer, M., Ginsburg, D., & Coe, R. (2007). Thirty years on—A large anti-Flynn effect? The Piagetian test Volume & Heaviness norms 1975–2003”. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(1), 25–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, T. W., & Kim, S. (2006). National pride in comparative perspective: 1995/96 and 2003/04. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18, 127–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundet, J. M., Barlaug, D. G., & Torjussen, T. M. (2004). The end of the Flynn effect? A study of secular trends in mean intelligence test scores of Norwegian conscripts during half a century. Intelligence, 32(4), 349–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tamir, Y. (2019). Not so civic: Is there a difference between ethnic and civic nationalism? Annual Review of Political Science, 22, 419–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teasdale, T. W., & Owen, D. R. (2005). A long-term rise and recent decline in intelligence test performance: The Flynn effect in reverse. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(4), 837–843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1990). The past explains the present: Emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethology and Sociobiology, 11(4–5), 375–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Beest, I., & Williams, K. D. (2006). When inclusion costs and ostracism pays, ostracism still hurts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 918–928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Evera, S. (1994). Hypotheses on nationalism and war. International Security, 18(4), 5–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanhanen, T. (2003). Democratization: A comparative analysis of 170 countries. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfle, L. M. (1980). The enduring effects of education on verbal skills. Sociology of Education, 53(2), 104–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

    Satoshi Kanazawa

Authors
  1. Satoshi Kanazawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satoshi Kanazawa.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kanazawa, S. Possible Evolutionary Origins of Nationalism. Polit Behav 43, 1685–1705 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09741-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09741-7

Keywords

  • Psychology of international relations
  • Genopolitics