TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive and neural bases of decision-making causing civilian casualties during intergroup conflict
AU - Han, Xiaochun
AU - Zhou, Shuai
AU - Fahoum, Nardine
AU - Wu, Taoyu
AU - Gao, Tianyu
AU - Shamay-Tsoory, Simone
AU - Gelfand, Michele J.
AU - Wu, Xinhuai
AU - Han, Shihui
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102385665&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01064-1
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01064-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 33686202
SN - 2397-3374
VL - 5
SP - 1214
EP - 1225
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
IS - 9
ER -