The devoted actor’s will to fight and the spiritual dimension of human conflict

Ángel Gómez, Lucía López-Rodríguez, Hammad Sheikh, Jeremy Ginges, Lydia Wilson, Hoshang Waziri, Alexandra Vázquez, Richard Davis and Scott Atran ()
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Ángel Gómez: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Lucía López-Rodríguez: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Hammad Sheikh: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Jeremy Ginges: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Lydia Wilson: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Hoshang Waziri: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Alexandra Vázquez: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Richard Davis: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway
Scott Atran: Artis International, 6424 East Greenway Parkway

Nature Human Behaviour, 2017, vol. 1, issue 9, 673-679

Abstract: Abstract Frontline investigations with fighters against the Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS), combined with multiple online studies, address willingness to fight and die in intergroup conflict. The general focus is on non-utilitarian aspects of human conflict, which combatants themselves deem ‘sacred’ or ‘spiritual’, whether secular or religious. Here we investigate two key components of a theoretical framework we call ‘the devoted actor’—sacred values and identity fusion with a group—to better understand people’s willingness to make costly sacrifices. We reveal three crucial factors: commitment to non-negotiable sacred values and the groups that the actors are wholly fused with; readiness to forsake kin for those values; and perceived spiritual strength of ingroup versus foes as more important than relative material strength. We directly relate expressed willingness for action to behaviour as a check on claims that decisions in extreme conflicts are driven by cost–benefit calculations, which may help to inform policy decisions for the common defense.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-017-0193-3

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