Sacred values engage deontic rule processing, not utilitarian cost-benefit calculation

Evidence

We found instead that sacred values were associated with increased activity in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), regions previously associated with semantic rule retrieval. This suggests that sacred values affect behavior through the retrieval and processing of deontic rules and not through a utilitarian evaluation of costs and benefits. — Scott Atran and Jeremy Ginges, Sacred Values and Cultural Conflict, 89

Categorization

• XREF: Neural grounding of the sacred-vs-instrumental distinction central to the reader’s backfire research. — connects to: Sacred values are measured by refusal to trade a preference for money — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 24; Material incentives for relinquishing sacred values backfire and harden resistance — Scott Atran and Jeremy Ginges, Sacred Values and Cultural Conflict, 48; Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor: Unconditional…, 4 (+9 more)

Related

• Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences (similarity 0.86)
• Defending sacred values defies material cost-benefit prediction across decision contexts. (similarity 0.86)
• Sacred values are processed as unconditional rules, not cost-benefit calculations. (similarity 0.83)
• Material incentives for relinquishing sacred values backfire and harden resistance (similarity 0.83)
• Offering material incentives for sacred-value compromises backfires and increases hostility (similarity 0.82)
• Sacralized values resist material incentives and cause offer-driven concessions to backfire (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred values resist material incentives and are best countered only by rival sacred values. (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred values are measured by refusal to trade a preference for money (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred values resist tradeoffs because communities set them apart as nonfungible moral imperatives. (similarity 0.81)
• Sacred-value defenders benefit materially yet must deny those benefits to stay non-negotiable (similarity 0.80)
• Sacred values and identity fusion interact to drive sacrificial self-interest. (similarity 0.79)
• 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)
• Merely contemplating trade-offs on sacred values provokes moral outrage beyond cognitive confusion (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred-values-driven violence is insensitive to cost-benefit scope. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Sacred values resist cost-benefit correction unlike ordinary preferences #corroborates (0.90) — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 4
• Defending sacred values defies material cost-benefit prediction across decision contexts. #corroborates (0.88) — Scott Atran, The Devoted Actor, 22
• Sacred values resist trade-offs and override rational self-interest in decision making. #corroborates (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 545
• Duty-based moral cultures suppress cost-sensitivity in prosocial decisions. #corroborates (0.80) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 558
• Mere contemplation of sacred trade-offs produces opposite moral reactions for taboo versus tragic cases #expands (0.80) — Philip E. Tetlock, Thinking the unthinkable, 24
• Mutualistic cost-benefit logic may explain transcendent moral sentiment. #contradicts (0.78) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 265
• Material incentives harden sacred-value conflicts while symbolic gestures soften them #expands (0.75)
• Even religious fundamentalists ground moral judgments in utilitarian harm-based reasoning #contradicts (0.70) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4040