Open AccessSpiritual over physical formidability determines willingness to fight and sacrifice through loyalty in cross-cultural populations
Author(s) -
Chad C. Tossell,
Ángel Gómez,
Ewart J. de Visser,
Alexandra Vázquez,
Bianca Donadio,
Amanda Metcalfe,
Charles Rogan,
Richard E. Davis,
Scott Atran
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2113076119
Subject(s) - religiosity , loyalty , sacrifice , social psychology , conviction , construct (python library) , ingroups and outgroups , psychology , political science , law , geography , archaeology , computer science , programming language
Significance Despite intermittent interest in and evidence of the importance of nonmaterial factors in war and other extreme forms of intergroup conflict, material factors such as optimal use of physical strength, manpower, and firepower remain the dominant concerns of US and allied military training, decision-making, and related academic literature. In this work, we demonstrate the cross-cultural primacy of personal spiritual over physical formidability on the will to fight in populations from the Middle East, Europe, and North America, including US cadets in whom stronger group loyalty mediates the effect. This empirical examination of spiritual formidability and its link between self and group in willingness to self-sacrifice aims to extend understanding of interpersonal and intergroup conflict and inform considerations of policy.