Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-76mfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-14T23:21:44.237Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The fire burns within: Individual motivations for self-sacrifice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Rima-Maria Rahal Open the ORCID record for Rima-Maria Rahal [Opens in a new window]
Rima-Maria Rahal*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, 60323, Germany; Gielen Leyendecker Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn 53115, Germany. rahal.rimamaria@gmail.comhttps://rimamrahal.wordpress.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Extreme self-sacrifice in intergroup conflict may be driven not only by situational factors generating “fusion,” but also by interindividual differences. Social value orientation is discussed as a potential contributor to self-harming behavior outside of intergroup conflicts and to the general propensity to participate in intergroup conflict. Social value orientation may therefore also be a person-specific determinant of extreme self-sacrifice in intergroup conflict.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e214
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aaldering, H., Greer, L. L., Van Kleef, G. A. & De Dreu, C. K. W. (2013) Interest (mis)alignments in representative negotiations: Do pro-social agents fuel or reduce inter-group conflict? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 120(2):240–50. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.06.001.Google Scholar
Bélanger, J. J., Caouette, J., Sharvit, K. & Dugas, M. (2014) The psychology of martyrdom: Making the ultimate sacrifice in the name of a cause. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 107(3):494–515. doi: 10.1037/a0036855.Google Scholar
Bernhard, H., Fischbacher, U. & Fehr, E. (2006) Parochial altruism in humans. Nature 442(7105):912–15. doi: 10.1038/nature04981.Google Scholar
Bobadilla, L. (2014) Martyrdom redefined: Self-destructive killers and vulnerable narcissism. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37(4):364–65. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X13003361.Google Scholar
Bolton, G. E. & Ockenfels, A. (2000) ERC: A theory of equity, reciprocity, and competition. The American Economic Review 90(1):166–93. doi: 10.1257/aer.90.1.166.Google Scholar
Choi, J.-K. & Bowles, S. (2007) The coevolution of parochial altruism and war. Science 318(5850):636–40. doi: 10.1126/science.1144237.Google Scholar
Duckitt, J., Wagner, C., du Plessis, I. & Birum, I. (2002) The psychological bases of ideology and prejudice: Testing a dual process model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83(1):75–93. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.1.75.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. & O'Brien, E. J. (1985) The person–situation debate in historical and current perspective. Psychological Bulletin 98(3):513–37. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.98.3.513.Google Scholar
Fehr, E. & Schmidt, K. M. (1999) A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114(3):817–68. doi: 10.1162/003355399556151.Google Scholar
Fink, B. & Trivers, R. (2014) Cognitive simplicity and self-deception are crucial in martyrdom and suicide terrorism. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 37(4):366–67. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13003385.Google Scholar
Gratz, K. L. (2003) Risk factors for and functions of deliberate self-harm: An empirical and conceptual review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 10(2):192–205. doi: 10.1093/clipsy.bpg022.Google Scholar
Gratz, K. L., Conrad, S. D. & Roemer, L. (2002) Risk factors for deliberate self-harm among college students. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 72(1):128–40. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.72.1.128.Google Scholar
Griesinger, D. W. & Livingston, J. W. (1973) Toward a model of interpersonal motivation in experimental games. Behavioral Science 18(3):173–88. doi: 10.1002/bs.3830180305.Google Scholar
Ho, A. K., Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Levin, S., Thomsen, L., Kteily, N. & Sheehy-Skeffington, J. (2012) Social dominance orientation: Revisiting the structure and function of a variable predicting social and political attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 38(5):583–606. doi: 10.1177/0146167211432765.Google Scholar
Kranton, R. E. & Sanders, S. G. (2017) Groupy versus non-groupy social references: Personality, region, and political party. American Economic Review 107(5):65–69. doi: 10.1257/aer.p20171096.Google Scholar
Messick, D. M. & McClintock, C. G. (1968) Motivational bases of choice in experimental games. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 4(1):1–25. doi: 10.1016/0022-1031(68)90046-2.Google Scholar
Perry, R., Sibley, C. G. & Duckitt, J. (2013) Dangerous and competitive worldviews: A meta-analysis of their associations with social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism. Journal of Research in Personality 47(1):116–27. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2012.10.004.Google Scholar
Post, J. M., Ali, F., Henderson, S. W., Shanfield, S., Victoroff, J. & Weine, S. (2009) The psychology of suicide terrorism. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 72(1):13–31. doi: 10.1521/psyc.2009.72.1.13.Google Scholar
Pratto, F., Sidanius, J., Stallworth, L. M. & Malle, B. F. (1994) Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67:741–63. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.741.Google Scholar
Sidanius, J., Pratto, F. & Mitchell, M. (1994) In-group identification, social dominance orientation, and differential intergroup social allocation. The Journal of Social Psychology 134(2):151–67. doi: 10.1080/00224545.1994.9711378.Google Scholar
Thielmann, I. & Böhm, R. (2016) Who does (not) participate in intergroup conflict? Social Psychological and Personality Science 7(8):778–87. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616660160.Google Scholar
Thomsen, L., Green, E. G. T. & Sidanius, J. (2008) We will hunt them down: How social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism fuel ethnic persecution of immigrants in fundamentally different ways. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44(6):1455–64. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.06.011.Google Scholar
Trivers, R. (2006) The elements of a scientific theory of self-deception. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 907(1):114–31. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2000.tb06619.x.Google Scholar
Vazire, S. & Funder, D. C. (2006) Impulsivity and the self-defeating behavior of narcissists. Personality and Social Psychology Review 10(2):154–65. doi: 10.1207/s15327957pspr1002_4.Google Scholar