Sacred-values-driven violence is insensitive to cost-benefit scope.

Evidence

When asked how many hostages they required to be saved to ensure their support (from 1 to 100), those evaluating the military option said only one hostage needed to be rescued, showing a remarkable insensitivity to scope. In contrast, those evaluating the diplomatic option required a majority of hostages to be rescued. — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 31

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s theme that threat-hardened sacred convictions bypass rational cost-benefit correction — a mechanism resistant to the kind of rational/moral correction the reader is investigating. — connects to: Sacred-value commitment produces costly sacrifice that lets weak groups beat stronger foes. — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor: Unconditional…, 1; Moral commitment to sacred values leverages movements lacking material means against stronger opposition. — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor: Unconditional…, 46; Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor: Unconditional…, 4

Related

• Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences (similarity 0.86)
• Sacred-value commitment produces costly sacrifice that lets weak groups beat stronger foes. (similarity 0.85)
• Defending sacred values defies material cost-benefit prediction across decision contexts. (similarity 0.84)
• Sacred values are processed as unconditional rules, not cost-benefit calculations. (similarity 0.84)
• Sacred values resist material incentives and are best countered only by rival sacred values. (similarity 0.83)
• Rational cost-benefit models fail to predict decisions about war and revolution (similarity 0.81)
• People weigh sacred duty over family via moral perception, not cost-benefit calculation. (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred values resist tradeoffs because communities set them apart as nonfungible moral imperatives. (similarity 0.80)
• Moral commitment to sacred values leverages movements lacking material means against stronger opposition. (similarity 0.80)
• Offering material incentives for sacred-value compromises backfires and increases hostility (similarity 0.80)
• Devoted lower-power groups can beat materially stronger paid foes. (similarity 0.80)
• Sacred values resist material trade-offs and respond to symbolic meaning (similarity 0.80)
• Devoted actor behavior resists instrumental cost-benefit reasoning. (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred values resist trade-offs and override rational self-interest in decision making. (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred values engage deontic rule processing, not utilitarian cost-benefit calculation (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences #expands (0.95) — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 4
• Sacred-value commitment produces costly sacrifice that lets weak groups beat stronger foes. #expands (0.80) — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 1
• Moral commitment to sacred values leverages movements lacking material means against stronger opposition. #expands (0.75) — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 46