TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - The psychology of martyrdom: making the ultimate sacrifice in the name of a cause JO - Journal of personality and social psychology A1 - Bélanger, Jocelyn J. A1 - Caouette, Julie A1 - Sharvit, Keren A1 - Dugas, Michelle SP - 494 EP - 515 VL - 107 IS - 3 N2 - Martyrdom is defined as the psychological readiness to suffer and sacrifice one's life for a cause. An integrative set of 8 studies investigated the concept of martyrdom by creating a new tool to quantitatively assess individuals' propensity toward self-sacrifice. Studies 1A-1C consisted of psychometric work attesting to the scale's unidimensionality, internal consistency, and temporal stability while examining its nomological network. Studies 2A-2B focused on the scale's predictive validity, especially as it relates to extreme behaviors and suicidal terrorism. Studies 3-5 focused on the influence of self-sacrifice on automatic decision making, costly and altruistic behaviors, and morality judgments.

RESULTS involving more than 2,900 participants from different populations, including a terrorist sample, supported the proposed conceptualization of martyrdom and demonstrated its importance for a vast repertoire of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral phenomena. Implications and future directions for the psychology of terrorism are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0022-3514 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036855 ID - ref1 ER -