COMMENTARY COMMENTARY Devoted actors sacrifice for close comrades and sacred cause

Scott Atrana,1, Hammad Sheikhb, and Angel Gomezc aCNRS-Institut Jean Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 75005 Paris, France; bDepartment of Psychology, New School for Social Research, New York, NY 10011; and cFacultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, 28040 Madrid, Spain

What inspires the willingness of humans to into a unique identity to generate a col- make their greatest exertions, to fight unto lective sense of invincibility and special death with and for genetic strangers, a pro- destiny, especially when the collective is pensity to which no creature but humans conceived as a small tight-knit group of seems subject? What determines the “fighting fictive kin (7). In-depth case and field spirit” that enables one group of combatants studies of terrorist groups, of how they de- Fig. 1. Two factors, identity fusion and sacred values, to defeat another, all other things being veloped and how their attacks germinated, interact to determine who is likely to become a devoted equal? These are basic questions about hu- also indicate that militants kill and die “for actor based on expressions of willingness to make ... costly sacrifices, including fighting and dying. In this mannatureandwarfarethatanarticleby each other their imagined family of genetic graph summarizing results from a Moroccan community Whitehouse et al. endeavors to address (1). strangers—their brotherhood” (8). However, surveyed with links to militant Jihad (20), only those However, that article’s arguments also bear by applying fusion theory to a field study of subjects who were fused with a family-like group and directly on some of the world’scurrentand revolutionary combatants in Lybia, White- considered Sharia a sacred value were more willing than not to make costly sacrifices, being above the most pressing crises. Thus, in recent remarks, house et al. (1) show in replicable ways that midpoint of a 7-point response scale, from strongly President Obama (2) endorsed the judgment “family-like” social bonds, which indissociably unwilling to strongly willing. (Error bars show 95% of his US National Intelligence Director: “We wed personal identity to group identity, may confidence levels.) underestimated the Viet Cong... we under- well enable combatants to fight on, even in the estimated ISIL [the Islamic State] and over- face of death and defeat. “ ” ideologies (13), which leads some groups to estimated the fighting capability of the Iraqi Those who study fighting spirit in the prevail because of nonrational commitment army.... It boils down to predicting the will military tend to chalk up “the semi-mystical from at least some of its members to actions to fight, which is an imponderable” (3). How- bond of comradeship” to rational self-interest that drive success independent—or all out of ever, if Whitehouse et al.’s(1)measuresand (9), and to dismiss any idea of sacrifice for proportion—from expected rational outcomes findings are reliable and right, predicting who a cause as a critical factor in war. In Vietnam, (14). For such “devoted actors,” rightness of is willing to fight and who isn’t could be for example, American soldiers told inter- in-group cause often leads to intractable con- ponderable indeed. viewers that the cause of democracy was flicts with out-groups that become immune to Among American military psychologists “crap” and “ajoke.” However, they described the give-and-take common to “business-like” (4), historians, and sociologists, conventional the selfless bravery of the Viet Cong and negotiations (15). wisdom on why soldiers fight is because of North Vietnamese “because they believed in Thus, our interviews with United States leadership and, more important, group loy- something” and “knew what they were fight- officials familiar with Abu Bakr al-Bagh- alty resembling love of family but perhaps ing for” (10). Perhaps, then, some do fight dadi (now self-proclaimed “Caliph” of the even stronger (5). As William Manchester and die for a cause, as well as comrades, and Islamic State) and his close circle, including put it in his memoirs of US Marine Corps thatiswhytheywinwars. General Douglas Stone, who commanded service in World War II: “Those men on the Although the evidence in Whitehouse et al. Camp Bucca where they were held, suggests line were my family, my home. They were (1) suggests that identity fusion with a close absolutely committed “purists,” completely closer to me than...friends had ever been or family-like group is strongly associated with would ever be. They never let me down, and I willingness to fight and die, fighters also devoted to their idea of Sharia and the Ca- couldn’tdoittothem” (6). Now, using the claim they do so for a greater cause. As Dar- liphate, and willing to do anything for it, to theory of identity fusion and its associated win surmised in The Descent of Man (11), it use violence to instill blood lust among methods, Whitehouse et al. (1) provide a con- is not merely commitment to a tribe of imag- their followers and terror among enemies, vincing empirical demonstration of this sen- ined kin but also to its “morality” that instills who were no match for them. Uncondi- timent as essential to the fighting spirit of “the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, tional commitment to comrades, in con- combatants who keep risking their lives for courage, and sympathy” with which winning junction with their sacred cause, may be their company of imaginary kin, their “band groups are better endowed in history’sspiral- of brothers.” ing competition for survival and dominance. Author contributions: S.A., H.S., and A.G. wrote the paper. Until now, fusion theory and methods Studies across cultures suggest that the stron- The authors declare no conflict of interest. had only been tested in classroom, labo- gest forms of primary group identity are See companion article 10.1073/pnas.1416284111. ratory, and online studies: revealing how bounded by sacred values (12), often in the 1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: satran@ personal and group identities collapse form of religious beliefs or transcendental umich.edu.

www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1420474111 PNAS Early Edition | 1of2 Downloaded by guest on September 27, 2021 what allows low-power groups to endure from a previous publication in PNAS (14). hallowed—to induce high levels of sacrifice. and often prevail against materially stron- We found that that fusion with family-like To explain their result that fighters “express ger foes: since World War II, revolutionary groups may drive costly sacrifices expressed, stronger fusion with battalions than non- and insurgent groups (e.g., the Islamic for example, in willingness to use violence fighters,” Whitehouse et al. speculate that State) have beaten armies with up to an “fusion with the battalion may have caused order-of-magnitude more firepower and The evidence in people to volunteer” (1). Our surveys, com- manpower because of devotion to comrade Whitehouse et al. bining Whitehouse et al.’s measure of identity and cause rather than typical reward struc- fusion with a measure of sacred value, pro- ’ suggests that identity tures, like pay and promotion (e.g., Iraq s vide a different process to explain their re- army) (16). fusion with a close sults: a cluster of friends or fellow travelers OnedrawbackinthearticlebyWhite- family-like group is maycometoholdsacredvalues,perhapsini- house et al. (1) is lack of a comparison group: tially influenced by one or a few of them, and practically everyone is fused and involved in strongly associated then fuse into an imagined family-like group the fighting, a situation similar to that of the with willingness to defined and driven by these values. Further- Kurds on the front lines around Mosul in fight and die. more, when sacred values are at the core of Iraq where our research team is currently motivations to make extreme sacrifices, it working. This aspect precludes strong con- and to die. However, such willingness ap- clusions about the path and process from pears likely to increase significantly for those becomes clear how people can sustain com- fusion to willingness to fight. Studying sus- who also hold a sacred value (Fig. 1). mitment and continue to fight. This result is ceptible populations before engagement with These findings support Whitehouse et al.’s so even when most of the group they were active violence and battle can help fill this (1)coreargumentthatfusionplaysanim- fused with has perished, as Darwin intimated gap. Consider the following: portant role in galvanizing willingness for ex- in his discussion of heroism and martyrdom Upwards of 2,000 Moroccans have joined tremely costly actions by “devoted actors” under low initial probability of victory or jihadi groups in Syria, primarily the Islamic characteristic of revolutionary and insurgent even group survival (11). State, and our field discussions with groups; however, the findings also suggest ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank ARTIS Research and Moroccan officials indicate that scores of that devoted actor groups rally around sacred the US Department of Defense MINERVA Initiative volunteers are now leaving monthly from values—as when law or land become holy or for support. some Moroccan towns. Systematic analysis of dialogues in social media among hun- dreds of foreign fighters over the last 3 y 1 Whitehouse H, McQuinn B, Buhrmester M, Swann WB, Jr (2014) 11 Darwin C (1871) The Descent of Man (John Murray, London), indicates a marked shift in motivations Brothers in arms: Libyan revolutionaries bond like family. Proc Natl pp 163–165. Acad Sci USA, 10.1073/pnas.1416284111. 12 Tetlock PE (2003) Thinking the unthinkable: Sacred values and over the last year from saving coreligionists 2 Payne S (September 28, 2014) Obama: U.S. misjudged the rise of taboo cognitions. Trends Cogn Sci 7(7):320–324. in Syria to establishing Sharia and securing the Islamic State, ability of Iraqi army. Washington Post Available at 13 Atran S, Ginges J (2012) Religious and sacred imperatives in the Caliphate, regardless of the wishes of www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-us- human conflict. 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