Exposure to Violence, Loss of Resources, and Intergroup Attitudes

• In Event: Extremism and Violence

Abstract

How does exposure to violence during armed conflict influence intergroup cooperation? A number of studies have found that exposure leads to greater pro-sociality. But we do not know if the perpetrator or type of exposure—injury, death of a relative, or loss of economic resources—influences civilians’ attitudes. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that loss of a major economic resource—the victim’s home—shapes the extent and targets of pro-sociality. We assess this proposition with a survey conducted in Mosul after the Islamic State was expelled from the city and an embedded experiment measuring one form of pro-sociality—altruism—towards ingroups and outgroups associated with combatants in the conflict. Loss of one’s home at the hands of a combatant reduces altruism towards members of the combatant’s social group. However, this effect is asymmetrical; losing one’s home because of ingroup combatant violence reduces altruism towards the ingroup less than the loss of one’s home at the hands of the outgroup combatant reduces altruism towards the outgroup. This finding extends our knowledge of the social consequences of exposure to violence and has implications for the conduct of counter-insurgent operations that result in widespread property damage.

Authors

• Jacob Aronson, University of Maryland, College Park

• Jonathan Hall, Uppsala University

• James Igoe Walsh, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

• Paul K. Huth, University of Maryland, College Park