Citation

Ginges J, Atran S. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 2009; 1167: 115-123.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, 80 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011, USA. gingesj@newschool.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04543.x

PMID

19580558

Abstract

In standard models of decision making, participation in violent political action is understood as the product of instrumentally rational reasoning. According to this line of thinking, instrumentally rational individuals will participate in violent political action only if there are selective incentives that are limited to participants. We argue in favor of an alternate model of political violence where participants are motivated by moral commitments to collective sacred values. Correlative and experimental empirical evidence in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict strongly supports this alternate view.

Language: en