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Inferring cognition from action: Does martyrdom imply its motive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

David J. Weiss
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032dweiss@calstatela.eduwww.davidjweiss.com
Jie Weiss
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834. jweiss@fullerton.eduhttp://lifestyledecision.fullerton.edu

Abstract

Drawing inferences about the decision utilities of suicide terrorists from their final action is tempting, but hazardous. Direct elicitation of those utilities would be more informative, but is infeasible. Substituting examination of archival materials for elicitation makes the assumption that leaders and bombers have similar utilities. Insight regarding the beliefs of terrorist leaders might be available from observations of recruitment strategies.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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