Cognition
The "Us" vs. "Them" Mentality and Extraterrestrials
Humans are built and socialized to "other," and this can be limiting.
Posted November 30, 2025 Reviewed by Jessica Schrader
Key points
- Humans have evolved and are socialized to identify with an in-group and to beware of out-group members.
- Media normalization of battling "bad guys" begins in childhood and spans our lifetimes.
- The documentary "Age of Disclosure" suggests there is concealed evidence of unidentified aerial phenomena.
“They’re fighting the bad guys,” my husband answered our son. Luke Skywalker and his pals continued shooting lasers from the edge of a cliff in what was (I assume, for most people) an exciting Star Wars scene.
“Because we are a violent species,” I added before taking another sip of my wine.
Sure, I was watching the movie through melancholic lenses, riding the descending wave of a major depressive episode—but I’ve found those moments can be unusually revelatory. It is true that people, on a certain level, can be unnecessarily violent. I hope there is more to life than deriving entertainment from the “good guys fighting the bad guys.” But at this time, among our species, “us vs. them” sells.
The problem is that from a young age, this ‘otherness’ is normalized and stamped into our psyche. Social psychology research shows a clear human tendency to distinguish between those who are safe and accepted into the group (the in-group) and those who are different, unsafe—alien (the out-group).
In their integrative review, Cikara and Van Bavel (2014) explain that social categorization “allows us to simplify the social world and generalize our existing knowledge about certain groups and new people.” We are raised to distinguish between “us” and “them.”
Is it not peculiar that, on the one hand, our culture paints this portrait of humans as the most intelligent and advanced species, but, on the other hand, it also showcases our divisive and violent dispositions against our own kind?
Differentiating between “us” and “them” has been seen as evolutionarily adaptive in a world with too many creatures for our brains to simultaneously conceptualize. We need other people to survive, but it may be impossible to connect with and identify with every single person or group on the planet. We (like most other living beings on earth) prioritize self-preservation, and often survival seems to require cohesion within a group and protection from anything or anyone that may hurt us.
Individually, people are rewarded by both cooperation and exclusion of others. Human divisiveness and othering are built into our very core. This is evidenced by the recently published book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, by Kelsey McKinney, which explores the role of gossip in interpersonal relationships. The book describes gossip as not just a normal human experience, but as “salacious,” “fun,” and “enchanting.” EEG research shows greater brain activity and better memory for gossip than neutral information about celebrities. Let’s face it: humans get a kick from talking badly about other humans.
Sure, people will be people. But what are the characteristics of other potential life forms beyond our planet? Do they think the same way we do?
The recently released documentary, Age of Disclosure, directed by Dan Farah, is a thorough account of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP; previously called “UFO”) observed and studied in the U.S. and around the globe. The movie includes interviews with high-ranking government officials, military personnel, and scientists stating they have witnessed nonhuman (alien) bodies, nonhuman aircrafts, civilians who reported having direct contact with aliens, or activity within and outside the government (e.g., in the private sector) related to UAP. According to the documentary, the U.S. and other countries have been in a “geopolitical arms race” to reverse-engineer UAP spacecrafts, and our government has been concealing this information from the public since the 1940s, partly to prevent panic and to maintain a sense of safety and control.
Were the personal accounts in Age of Disclosure credible? Or were they the things of conspiracy theories? I’m not going to argue either side here. What I am more laser-focused on is the angle the documentary seemed to take, probably to convince people to take this topic seriously. And what would pull people’s attention more than the possibility of an external threat?
One of the first scenes in the film shows Congressman Andre Carson stating that “unidentified aerial phenomena are a potential national security threat, and they need to be treated that way.” Other descriptions of UAP included: “a safety issue,” “an emerging and disruptive threat to the United States,” “a very serious national security issue,” and a “violation of our airspace.”
Brett Feddersen, the former director of aviation security on the National Security Council and acting director of the Federal Aviation Administration for the National Security Programs office, stated: “I can say through my experience that we are absolutely not alone in this universe. The biggest thing that concerns me with UAP is the national security concern. It’s the unknown. It’s the fact that this technology does stuff that we can’t do. And if we can’t figure out what it is or what it wants, or what it’s being used for, that keeps me up at night… and the idea that we’re behind the power curve. We want to be able to maintain the cutting-edge technology and the advantage here in the United States so that we can sleep comfortably at night and feel the safety of what the American government has provided.”
I don’t think any of these arguments are wrong or that they aren’t important. They are important. Anything can be malignant, just like anything can be benign. Of course we should be on the defense, informed, and ready. As my father used to say, “God helps those who help themselves.”
And...
While studying and opening our minds to the possibility of ‘the other(s),’ it is crucial that we also look in the mirror and understand ourselves. Our biases. Our limitations as human beings. Our environmental influences. This spans from our childhood exposure to the “good” and the “bad” guys in cartoons to the purely human sense of victory from watching the end of Independence Day.
We may not be at the evolutionary stage to collectively foster a sense of trust and connectedness, but what if this tendency to ‘other’ is more specific to us than we realize? What would it take for people to prioritize open-mindedness, transparency, and the pursuit of collective knowledge over being ahead of “the power curve”? For one, I agree this would take disclosure. But I also believe this would require an existential shift in human thinking and that this shift would mark a crucial step in our evolution and growth.
