Banding Together: The Social Basis Of Human Behavior

Banding Together Many people throughout history have been put into situations where they must survive, and have used different tactics to save their life. Sources listing some of those tactics include www.survivalcache.com and The Social Basis of Human Behavior by Richard F. Taflinger. A good example of people being put into survival situations include those in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which are referenced in the book 102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn. While some may think surviving as an individual would work best in a situation like this, in this book, the workers trapped in the towers used the strategy of group survival to make it out alive. When people are forced into survival situations the instinct to form groups together shows

This is because of a natural human function, which is the fact that if you do something that is beneficial to someone, they will most likely return the favor. This may not seem like a large part of group survival, but this is the main reason why groups can work together and function in a disaster situation. This is known as the Human Return Factor. Without this factor, a person in a group would perform a job, such as finding water, and give some to the rest of the group. In return, the other group members would each perform their different jobs, such as finding food, and give some to that group member who had earlier found the water. Imagine trying to survive without this key characteristic. In the same scenario, a group member could have found the water, given some to the rest of the group, but receive nothing in return. Therefore, he has just given away one of the most essential things needed to survive, water, and gotten nothing in return. This factor is explained more by author Richard F. Taflinger, in the article, The Social Basis of Human Behavior. He writes, “We just believe that helping will result in help when needed. Thus, by helping others, any others, we help ourselves.” This displays how humans can remember favors, and how that person will eventually repay that debt when it is needed. Another example of this return factor in 102 Minutes is when ‘Brian Clark rescues Stanley Praimnath, and later Praimnath helps Clark escape’ (Dwyer and Flynn). An additional text that shows this is The Ultimate Survival Manual by Richard Johnson, when he says ‘surviving in a group is much more beneficial and efficient to everyone in that group’ (Johnson 135). Overall, the reason group survival works is because of this factor, and how humans will naturally exchange favors with each