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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  and
Jie Weiss
David J. Weiss
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, CA [email protected]
Jie Weiss
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92834. [email protected]://lifestyledecision.fullerton.edu
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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
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 380
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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