In these ancient communities, one family-based clan would inevitably become wealthier and more powerful than the others. As settled life developed, there grew food surpluses immeasurably greater than that which existed in earlier eras. There was also division of land. For the first time, major wealth began to accumulate in private hands. Most of it

Today it’s not uncommon for millions to pay attention to one person simply because millions of others are paying attention to them and for this to become a feedback loop, sending a relatively unremarkable individual into the distant upper reaches of planetary status.

One survey of sixty premodern societies uncovered seven common rules of play that are thought to be universal: help your family; help your group; return favours; be brave; defer to superiors; divide resources fairly; respect others’ property. These elemental rules dictate the ways humans keep their tribes working well. They tell us basically how to

Study leader Professor Roos Vonk found the self-views they developed were ‘the exact opposite of enlightenment’.

The more our group possesses, and the higher it climbs versus rival groups, the more of the great prize we personally win. Perhaps even more damaging than our tendency towards avarice and shadiness is the fact our brains hide these behaviours from us.

On the contrary, writes the psychologist Professor Paul Bloom, ‘egalitarian lifestyles of the hunter-gatherers exist because the individuals care a lot about status. Individuals in these societies end up roughly equal because everyone is struggling to ensure that nobody gets too much power over him or her.’

we’re especially vulnerable to irrationality when the ‘facts’ in question serve to boost or threaten the heroic story we tell of ourselves.

remain programmed for this style of life. We are today as we’ve always been: tribal. We have instincts that compel us to seek connection with coalitions of others. Once we’ve been accepted into a group, we strive to achieve their approval and acclaim.

‘Along with status comes better food, more abundant territory, superior health care.’ It leads to greater access to preferred mates and ‘bestows on children social opportunities’ that youngsters in lower ranking families miss out on. When researchers analysed 186 premodern societies around the world, they found men of higher status ‘invariably had