Abstract
The current research examined the role of retributive justice and cost-benefit utility motivations in the process through which mortality salience increases support for violent responses to intergroup conflict. Specifically, previous research has shown that mortality salience often encourages political violence, especially when perceptions of retributive justice are activated. The current research examined whether mortality salience directly activates a justice mindset over a cost-benefit utility mindset, and whether this justice mindset is associated with support for political violence. In Study 1 (N = 209), mortality salience was manipulated among Israeli participants who then read about a Hamas attack on Israel with either no casualties or many casualties, after which justice and utility motivations for retribution were assessed. Study 2 (N = 112), examined whether the link between death primes and support for an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities is mediated by justice or cost-benefit utility considerations. Results of both studies revealed that primes of death increased justice-related motivations, and these motives, rather than utility motives, were associated with support for violence. Findings suggest that existential concerns often fuel violent intergroup conflict because they increase desire for retributive justice, rather than increase belief that violence is an effective strategy. These findings expand our knowledge on the motivations for intergroup violence, and shed experimental light on real-life eruptions of violent conflict indicating that when existential concerns are salient, as they often are during violent conflict, the decision to engage in violence often disregards the utility of violence, and leads to the preference for violent solutions to political problems – even when these solutions make little practical sense.
Highlights
“My administration has a job to do and we’re going to do it
We contend that the link observed in numerous studies between existential concerns and political violence may reflect the effects of existential concerns on justice motivation, and that this justice motivation plays an important role in promoting intergroup violence
The concrete consequences of specific incursions by an adversary surely play a role in promoting support for violence (Bueno de Mesquita, 1988), we argue that it is the symbolic implications of these actions that are most important in motivating people to support war and other forms of political violence
Summary
“My administration has a job to do and we’re going to do it. We will rid the world of the evil-doers.” President George W. If MS increased support for retributive attacks primarily in response to severe incursions by an enemy when the desire for justice is high, it would provide support for our claim that concerns for justice play an important role in the relationship between existential threat and support for political violence. Participants were primed with either MS or an aversive control topic before responding to these scenarios To address these issues within the context of the Israeli– Palestinian conflict, we constructed a measure of justice and utility motivations for violence (the justice-utility scale, JUS) that provides distinct assessments of justice and utilitarian motivations for violence, Study 1 was designed to determine whether MS increases support for justice, utility, or both motivations, and whether the effect of MS emerges primarily in response to severe provocations, when the desire for justice is likely to be greater. In the current study participants read one of two scenarios about a missile attack on the town of Sderot (which is located only one mile from the city of Gaza); half of the participants were randomly assigned to a scenario depicting a severe outcome of the missile attack with many Israeli casualties, and the other half to a scenario depicting a mild outcome with no casualties
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
