IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v5y2021i9d10.1038_s41562-021-01064-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cognitive and neural bases of decision-making causing civilian casualties during intergroup conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaochun Han

    (Peking University
    Peking University
    Peking University)

  • Shuai Zhou

    (The 7th Medical Center of PLA General Hospital)

  • Nardine Fahoum

    (University of Haifa)

  • Taoyu Wu

    (Peking University
    Peking University
    Peking University)

  • Tianyu Gao

    (Peking University
    Peking University
    Peking University)

  • Simone Shamay-Tsoory

    (University of Haifa)

  • Michele J. Gelfand

    (University of Maryland)

  • Xinhuai Wu

    (The 7th Medical Center of PLA General Hospital)

  • Shihui Han

    (Peking University
    Peking University
    Peking University)

Abstract

Civilian casualties occur during military attacks. Such ‘collateral damage’ is prohibited by international laws but increases with substantial consequences when intergroup conflict escalates. Here, we investigate cognitive and neural bases of decision-making processes resulting in civilian harm, using a task that simulates punishment decision-making during intergroup conflict. We test two groups of Chinese participants in a laboratory setting, and members of two ethnic groups (Jewish and Palestinian) in Israel. The results dissociate two psychological constructs, harm preference and harm avoidance, which respectively characterize punishment decision-making related to outgroup combatants and outgroup noncombatants during intergroup conflict. In particular, individuals show decreased avoidance of harming outgroup noncombatants when conflict escalates. Brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) reveals that decreased harm avoidance is predicted by inhibition of the left middle frontal activity during selection of punishment decisions. Our findings provide insight into the cognitive and neural bases of decision-making involving civilian harm during intergroup conflict.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaochun Han & Shuai Zhou & Nardine Fahoum & Taoyu Wu & Tianyu Gao & Simone Shamay-Tsoory & Michele J. Gelfand & Xinhuai Wu & Shihui Han, 2021. "Cognitive and neural bases of decision-making causing civilian casualties during intergroup conflict," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(9), pages 1214-1225, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-021-01064-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01064-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01064-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-021-01064-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-021-01064-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.