Citation

Holbrook C, Fessler DM. Cognition 2013; 127(1): 46-56.

Affiliation

Department of Anthropology and Center for Behavior, Evolution, & Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States. Electronic address: cholbrook01@ucla.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cognition.2012.12.002

PMID

23333835

Abstract

Victory in modern intergroup conflict derives from complex factors, including weaponry, economic resources, tactical outcomes, and leadership. We hypothesize that the mind summarizes such factors into simple metaphorical representations of physical size and strength, concrete dimensions that have determined the outcome of combat throughout both ontogenetic and phylogenetic experience. This model predicts that in the aftermath of tactical victories (e.g., killing an enemy leader), members of defeated groups will be conceptualized as less physically formidable. Conversely, reminders that groups possess effective leadership should lead their members to be envisioned as more physically formidable. Consonant with these predictions, in both an opportunistic study conducted immediately after Osama bin Laden's death was announced (Study 1) and a follow-up experiment conducted approximately a year later (Study 2), Americans for whom the killing was salient estimated a purported Islamic terrorist to be physically smaller/weaker. In Studies 3 and 4, primes of victorious terrorist leaders led to inflated estimates of terrorists' physical attributes. These findings elucidate how the mind represents contemporary military power, and may help to explain how even largely symbolic victories can influence reasoning about campaigns of coalitional aggression.

Language: en