ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the processes involved by developing a conceptual bridge to link how an individual's priorities of inclusive fitness maximization interact with priorities and choices in the cultural environment. To determine preferred-group membership, cognitive and emotive processes in the identification mechanism continuously extract group-related information from the cultural environment. It develops the identification mechanism in detail. Heuristics have come into play in the identification mechanism because ethnic and cultural markers have often been available to assess potential inclusive fitness benefits of participating in a larger group. It shows that postcolonial developments have confounded optimal functioning of the identification mechanism at the level of the state. The identification mechanism plays a critical role in humanity's propensity for warfare because it has allowed inclusive fitness priorities, allegiances to groups, and self-sacrificial behavior found in nucleus ethnic groups to be transferred to ever-larger groups.
