Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution

Atran, Scott; Axelrod, Robert; Davis, Richard E.

doi:10.1126/science.1144241

Cited by 169 publications

(148 citation statements)

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“…Because group prototypicality is an important quality of leadership [58], this appears unlikely. In our previous research, we have found non-instrumentally rational responses to violation of sacred values by ordinary people [23] reflected in the responses of leaders [59]. Nevertheless, this could be an important topic for future work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

War as a moral imperative (not just practical politics by other means)

Ginges

Atran

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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We present findings from one survey and five experiments carried out in the USA, Nigeria and the Middle East showing that judgements about the use of deadly intergroup violence are strikingly insensitive to quantitative indicators of success, or to perceptions of their efficacy. By demonstrating that judgements about the use of war are bounded by rules of deontological reasoning and parochial commitment, these findings may have implications for understanding the trajectory of violent political conflicts. Further, these findings are compatible with theorizing that links the evolution of within-group altruism to intergroup violence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

War as a moral imperative (not just practical politics by other means)

Ginges

Atran

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…The damage that kamikaze ("divine wind") pilots inflicted on the American fleet in the Battle of Okinawa (April 1945), which greatly affected the U.S. decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war, showed the power of magical beliefs, as the kamikaze were volunteers who sacrificed their lives for their divine values and who hoped for a reward in the afterlife (Ivanov, 2003). Anthropological research on suicidal terrorism today suggests that "sacred values" are at the core of this kind of terrorism and that these values supersede economic and other material considerations (Atran, Axelrod, & Davis, 2007). Religious values are particularly important in this context.…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The Belief in Magic in the Age of Science

Subbotsky

2014

Sage Open

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ArticleIn this article, attempt is made to show that the belief in magic is a fundamental feature of the human mind (the "fundamentality hypothesis"). Even those who explicitly consider themselves to be completely rational individuals implicitly still harbor a belief in magical powers. It is also argued that magical thinking and magical beliefs are different psychological constructs. Whereas magical thinking might have important implications for learning, the belief in magic affects communication in modern societies. Finally, the areas of practice are outlined in which magical thinking and implicit or explicit magical beliefs can be engaged, such as education, political influence, commerce, military and political terror, and entertainment. The Starting Point: Theoretical Issues and Empirical Evidence of Hidden Magical Beliefs in Modern People Concepts and ProblemsIn the modern view, magical causality comprises events that violate known physical, biological, and psychological principles and conventions. Affecting or creating physical objects directly through the effort of thought, will, wishes, or words (mind-over-matter magic); affecting people's lives and health through prayer, magic spells, and rituals, or by promising reinforcement in the afterlife (communicative magic); and harming or helping people by manipulating the objects that those people were in contact with, such as their hair, clothes, or shadow (contagion magic) are just a few kinds of magical events (Frazer, 1890(Frazer, /1959Lévy-Brühl, 1923/1966Nemeroff & Rozin, 2000;Piaget, 1929Piaget, /1971Subbotsky, 2010a). The contrast between magical causality and physical causality cannot be properly understood without realization that the belief in magical causality goes back for about 30,000 years, to the Upper Paleolithic period, when people populated nature with spiritual agents that could think or wish; that is, they attributed to inanimate things a certain "theory of mind," a concept that is alien to the objects of science. The assumption that physical objects at the receptive end of a causal event have some kind of consciousness is what distinguishes magical causality from physical causality.1 By addressing their pleas to the Gods and spirits, people tried to beg favors (good weather, good health, luck in hunting) from natural objects. In return, people were prepared to obey when the Gods and spirits spoke to them, either directly or indirectly through medicine men, kings, or wizards. From this it follows that from the beginning, magical causality had two dimensions: natural (people's magical communication with nature) and social (people's magical communication with other people; Boyer, 1994;Boyer & Walker, 2000;Tambiah, 1990).Whereas ordinary fantasy involves mental processing of ordinary characters or events (e.g., a child having AbstractThe widely spread view on magical beliefs in modern industrial cultures contends that magical beliefs are a bunch of curious phenomena that persist today as an unnecessary addition to a much more important set of...

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“…If humiliation suppresses support for political compromise, it follows that eff orts to decrease humiliation will increase the prospects of support for the same compromise. Previously we have shown that violent opposition to such compromises can be reduced if the other party makes simultaneous symbolic compromises over one of their own sacred values (Ginges et al, 2007;Atran, Axelrod and Davis, 2007). Here we investigated whether such symbolic compromises might reduce the inertia eff ect of humiliation and in doing so increase popular support for diffi cult but benefi cial political compromise.…”

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Humiliation and the Inertia Effect: Implications for Understanding Violence and Compromise in Intractable Intergroup Conflicts

Ginges

Atran

2008

J Cogn Cult

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We investigated the infl uence of humiliation on inter-group confl ict in three studies of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. We demonstrate that experienced humiliation produces an inertia eff ect; a tendency towards inaction that suppresses rebellious or violent action but which paradoxically also suppresses support for acts of inter-group compromise. In Study 1, Palestinians who felt more humiliated by the Israeli occupation were less likely to support suicide attacks against Israelis. In Study 2, priming Palestinians with a humiliating experience caused fewer expressions of joy when subsequently hearing about suicide attacks. In Study 3, Palestinians who felt more humiliated by peace deals were less likely to support those deals, while Israeli symbolic compromises that decreased feelings of humiliation increased support for the same deals. While the experience of humiliation does not seem to contribute to political violence, it does seem to suppress support for confl ict resolution. Wright, 2006, p. 150) Th e humiliation and subjugation of other groups is a terrible feature of human political life. As the above quote indicates, humiliation is often thought to be a signifi cant cause of inter-group violence. Humiliation has been used to help explain the aggression of Nazi Germany following the Versailles treaty (e.g., Keywords 282J. Ginges, S. Atran / Journal of Cognition and Culture 8 (2008) [281][282][283][284][285][286][287][288][289][290][291][292][293][294] Lindner, 2006) and the violence of non-state actors, such as suicide bombers (Jurgensmeyer, 2000;Atran, 2003;Stern, 2003;Moghadam, 2006;Newman, 2006; Sen, 2006;Bergen and Lind, 2007). Th e idea that humiliation leads to reactive violence has strong roots in psychoanalytic theory (Steinberg, 1991) and has substantial anecdotal support (Hassan, 2007). For example, in interviews that we and others have conducted, members of diff erent militant groups often attribute their own violent acts to personal or collective humiliation experienced at the hands of their oppressors (Atran and Stern, 2005;Fontan, 2006). Despite the importance of the topic, empirical tests of the role of humiliation in infl uencing violent intractable confl ict are rare (Victoroff , 2005). Th e research discussed in this paper was intended to fi ll this gap.Any discussion of humiliation is limited by the paucity of empirical investigation into its qualities. A fi rst step is to examine cross cultural appearances of the word humiliation and attend to their literal meanings. "Humiliation" is derived from the Latin humiliatus (made to lose pride or self-respect) from humilis (low, humble) and from humus (dirt, earth). As an indication of its importance, we have yet to fi nd a language where there is no literal translation of the English word humiliation. Words for humiliation in other languages such as, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Russian, Polish, German and Hungarian contain these same connotations (relative lowering of social status, pride and self-respect, ...

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Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution

Cited by 169 publications

References 9 publications

War as a moral imperative (not just practical politics by other means)

War as a moral imperative (not just practical politics by other means)

The Belief in Magic in the Age of Science

Humiliation and the Inertia Effect: Implications for Understanding Violence and Compromise in Intractable Intergroup Conflicts

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