Devoted actor behavior resists instrumental cost-benefit reasoning.

Evidence

Nevertheless, acts by devoted actors are not chiefly motivated by instrumental concerns, or at least those of which people are usually aware. Instead, they are motivated by sacred values that drive actions independent from or all out of proportion to outlays and outcomes. Devotion to some core values may represent universal responses to long-term evolutionary strategies that go beyond short-term individual calculations of self-interest but that advance individual interests in the aggregate and long run (Atran and Medin 2008); in nonliterate societies these may be encoded as preferences of spirits and deities (Purzycki 2016). This may include devotion to children, to community, or even to a sense of fairness (Atran and Axelrod 2008; cf. Eliade 1959). — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 23

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the defining feature of the ‘devoted actor’: action driven by sacred values independent of outlays/outcomes, directly relevant to the reading purpose on sacred-value commitment resisting rational correction.
• XREF: connects to: Self-interested rational-actor models cannot explain devotion-driven human behavior. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 545; Social change resists purely instrumental explanations because actors inhabit multiple temporalities — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 1064; Moral dispositions resist contrary incentives yet people overestimate their behavioral role — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 216 (+3 more)

Related

• Self-interested rational-actor models cannot explain devotion-driven human behavior. (similarity 0.86)
• Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences (similarity 0.85)
• Defending sacred values defies material cost-benefit prediction across decision contexts. (similarity 0.82)
• Sacred values resist material incentives and are best countered only by rival sacred values. (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred-values-driven violence is insensitive to cost-benefit scope. (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred values engage deontic rule processing, not utilitarian cost-benefit calculation (similarity 0.79)
• Rational cost-benefit models fail to predict decisions about war and revolution (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred values and identity fusion interact to drive sacrificial self-interest. (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred-value commitment produces costly sacrifice that lets weak groups beat stronger foes. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Self-interested rational-actor models cannot explain devotion-driven human behavior. #corroborates (0.95) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 545
• Moral obligation to help scales with recipient benefit relative to actor cost. #contradicts (0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 82
• Predicting behavior from rational self-interest offers firmer ground than assuming ideological irrationality. #contradicts (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 533
• Moral dispositions resist contrary incentives yet people overestimate their behavioral role #corroborates (0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 216
• Social change resists purely instrumental explanations because actors inhabit multiple temporalities #corroborates (0.75) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1064
• Moral consistency can be learned rule-following rather than an innate disposition #qualifies (0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 503