There’s no contradiction—you’re both right. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, groupthink would be adaptive for small tribes living in an extremely familiar environment for generations. In the ancestral environment it was possible to know everything, and nearly everyone did.. Truly new problems would be rare or nonexistent. In the modern era … things have changed a bit.
Exactly what I was about to write. At some point I’m sure it was adaptive, when groups of humans were small and faced harsh but relatively simple threats. Now, it’s sometimes adaptive but sometimes not.
There’s no contradiction—you’re both right. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, groupthink would be adaptive for small tribes living in an extremely familiar environment for generations. In the ancestral environment it was possible to know everything, and nearly everyone did.. Truly new problems would be rare or nonexistent. In the modern era … things have changed a bit.
OK, rereading the OP with that proviso mentally tacked on (“a group that, etc. will fare better in the ancestral environment”) makes more sense.
Aren’t there equally obvious reasons to consider viewpoint diversity adaptive, though, even in the EEA?
Exactly what I was about to write. At some point I’m sure it was adaptive, when groups of humans were small and faced harsh but relatively simple threats. Now, it’s sometimes adaptive but sometimes not.