Mutual Influence of Moral Values, Mental Models and Social Dynamics on Intergroup Conflict
Abstract
We have provided empirical support from real-world conflict areas for several ways in which devoted actors driven by sacred values deviate from rational actors in their willingness to sacrifice self-interest, including violation of transitivity in preferences, insensitivity or reverse sensitivity to quantity, immunity to tradeoffs coupled with a "backfire effect," where offers of material incentives or disincentives to give up sacred values leads to emotional retrenchment--including anger, disgust and moral outrage--and heightened refusal to compromise or negotiate, a rule-bound logic of moral appropriateness to do what is morally right no matter the likely risks or rewards, brain-imaging patterns consistent with processing sacred values as rules rather than as calculations of costs and consequences, and with processing perceived violations of sacred values as emotionally agitating. Our interviews and experiments with leaders and networks of committed advocates (e.g., militants) in several cultural settings and conflict zones reveal strategies for how these values become widespread, entrenched and resistant to standard negotiation attempts at compromise. But our findings also show that culturally sensitive attempts to offer powerful symbolic gestures often increase flexibility towards compromise.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 10, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA591831
Entities
People
- Richard A. Davis
- Scott Atran