Behavior Analysis Program2010 SABA AWARD: Enduring Programmatic Contributions

An Interdisciplinary Account of Martyrdom as a Religious Practice

Ramona Houmanfar & Todd Ward

Behavior Analysis Program2010 SABA AWARD: Enduring Programmatic Contributions

• More than 80% of all suicide bombings since 1968 have occurred after the 9/11 attacks (Atran, 2006).

• Although suicide attacks do not comprise the majority of terrorist attacks, they do generate the majority of all casualties (Atran, 2006; Piazza, 2009).

• According to Piazza’s (2009) analysis of terrorist attacks

• 1968-2005 religious groups inflicted casualties (38.10 per attack) more than secular leftist, rightist, and national-separatist groups (2.41-9.82 per attack).

• Islamist groups were responsible for over 90% of all attacks from religious groups, and for roughly 87% of all casualties by religious groups (20.7 victims vs. 8.7 victims for non-Islamic groups).

From 1981-1990, the majority of suicide attacks occurred in Lebanon (21/30).

From 1996-2000, the majority of attacks was dispersed between two countries: Turkey (13/40 or 33%) and Sri Lanka (11/40 or 28%).

From 2001-2008 the overall number of global suicide attacks increased dramatically.

From 2001-2005 59% of all attacks occurred in Iraq (401/635) . The next three highest locations for attacks during this period: 21% occurred in Israel and the West Bank (133/635), 3% occurred in Afghanistan (20/635), and 3% occurred in Russia (16/635).

From 2006-2008, the number of attacks in Iraq increased even further to 594/863 (69%).

The three next highest rates of attacks occurred in Afghanistan (151/863 or 17%), followed by Pakistan (50/863 or 6%), and Algeria (18/863 or 2%).

Behavior Analysis Program2010 SABA AWARD: Enduring Programmatic Contributions

• Provide a descriptive analysis of the geopolitical, socio-economic and historical conditions that generate religious practices associated with martyrdom.

• By placing an emphasis on suicide bombings and their relation to religious practices, will offer a brief history of martyrdom.

• Discuss the relation of such religious practices to cultural leaders’ opportunistic decision making behaviors. Our analysis draws upon distinctions between moral and religious plus religious and non-religious practices.

• Address the significance of the reciprocal relationship between psychological and sociological levels of analysis.

Martyrdom: DefinitionsSacrificing “something of great value,

especially life itself, for the sake of a principle” (martyr, 2010).

Its roots in the ancient Greek and Roman empires, which have similar characteristics and occur in the same general region as most modern day suicide bombings.One form, called suicide by execratio.Second form of suicide known as Samsonic.Third type is called suicide devotio.

Martyrdom in the 20th CenturyThe first major incidence of martyrdom

occurred in World War II during the Okinawa campaign (1945) . 2,000 suicide attacks by Japanese kamikaze

pilots (meaning “divine wind”) in June and April 1945.

The suicide by self-burning of Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc (in 1963).

Martyrdom in the 20th CenturyFirst major suicide bombing since World War

II in Beirut, Lebanon (in 1981).

Since 1981 suicide bombings as strategic political weapon, primarily directed to the West and Israel.

Martyrdom: CharacterizationSince the 9/11 attacks, terrorism has

typically been associated with young ill educated Muslim men.

Other factor: Opposition is crushed by dictatorship. Relating dictatorships to West. Patriotism (nationalism). Protecting family honor. Social and financial marginalization.

Martyrdom & Islam

Most Islamic scholars argue that the Koran forbids suicide (Wright, 1985). So how is martyrdom justified?

Iran and Iraq war: Islamic leaders used specific passages from the Koran to legitimize religious suicide among their followers.

The passages from the Koran read as follows;“Wars come to provide martyrs and God may

prove those who believe,” and “Paradise is only to be attained when God knows who will really strive and endure.”

Behavior Analytic Interpretation Personal death” is a verbal construction consisting of many stimulus functions based

on various relations with other events.

Heaven, by definition, cannot be directly experienced, as can houses, cars and parks.

“Heaven“ to acquire stimulus functions similar to those of a garden with fountains and shade, in which believers will be entertained by beautiful metaphysical beings with “complexions like rubies and pearls” (Brooks, 1995).

Through derived relations with other directly experienced events, "heaven“ may come to function as an effective consequence for rule following.

Under these conditions, one may become a martyr, a “soldier for God,” and martyrdom may be seen as a ticket to heaven.

Further established by direct acting social contingencies (maintained by immediate social environment of family, friends, peers etc.) that set that occasion and reinforce pro-martyrdom thoughts and associated activities.

Martyrdom & IslamAct of martyrdom rests on a number of

ultimate metaphysical constructions subject to manipulation by religious as well as

social authorities.The interaction between moral & religious as

well as religious and non-religious practices is important in highlighting the role of leaders’ opportunistic decision making in 21st century.

Behavioral Scientific FormulationsCultural practices are conditioned by social and

verbal influence (Houmanfar, Hayes, Fredericks, 2001).

Cultural practices : similar patterns of behaviors or operant content (usually resulting from similar environment) are transmitted inter-individually (Hayes, 1998) leading to what Glenn (2004) refers to as culturo-behavioral lineage.

Cultural practices are strengthened and transmitted interindividually (Hayes, 1988).

Behavioral Scientific FormulationsInter-individual transmission through

modeling, interaction with products of other individual’s behavior as well as verbal interaction among individuals of a given cultural group.

Leung (2003) tells the story of Murad Tawalbi, a 19 year old boy from the West Bank….

Inter- individual transmission in 21st Century Through videos , internet…twitterOther stimulus conditions: aggregate product

of cultural & religious institutions.Interaction with moral and non-religious,

then role of organized entities & associated leadership.

Relation between Moral and Religious ActsSchoenfeld (1993), Kantor (1981), and others

have addressed the ambiguity of the relationship between these two types of action.

Morality is historically dependent on religion (Kantor, 1981; Schoenfeld, 1993), or that morality is psychologically dependent on religion.

Schoenfeld: Religious codes imply greater and more rigid discipline.

Relation between Moral and Religious ActsDerivation from a divine or powerful source may

make the manipulation of the opportunistic circumstances for religious practice more effective (Houmanfar, Hayes, & Fredericks, 2000).

“martyr” is used to describe someone who “diligently and reverently [gives] up their lives for the sake of their community and their religion” (p. 417). Targets are not individuals, but rather a stereotypic

“faceless collective”….it is the entire way of life that is the enemy….

Moral and Religious (cont)“Islamisms” which refer to efforts to instill

Islam as an element of political power (Fling & Radil, 2009; Steger, 200).

bin Laden refers to various “satanic” acts brought on by the West.

Political power should only be exercised in the name of God, which transcends all manmade political and national boundaries (Flint and Radil, 2009).

Religious Act of Martyrdom & Non-Religious OutcomeExample: Saddam Hussein openly provided

approximately $260,000 in financial support to “Families of the Martyrs for the Distribution of Blessings of Saddam Hussein” comprised of families of Palestinians whose relatives “reached the highest degree of martyrdom” (Saddam Charity Checks, 2003).

Interaction of Religious & Non-Religious PracticesMartyrdom in the present day consists of a

complex blend of religion with broad geopolitical elements.

Predominant theme: terrorism results from poverty. data suggest that this isn’t necessarily the case.

The majority of terrorist acts originate in countries in the middle-range of development (Flint and Radil’s , 2009).

Point of Contact Across Science of Behavior & Science of CultureTerror groups may be evolving in two

divergent directions: (a) increased bureaucratization and, (b) leaderless jihad.

First group is characterized by increased isomorphism, or similarities in organizational processes across groups.

Point of Contact Across Science of Behavior & Science of CultureLeaderless jihad: autonomous and considered

New and particularly dangerous development since the War on Terror began in 2001 (Helfstein, 2009).

The limited organizational structure greater obstacle to identification by counterterrorism agencies than do isomorphic groups.

Better problem-solving skills at relatively more simple operations.

MetacontingencyMeant to account for interactions across

psychological and sociological levels of analysis.Glenn and Malott (2004)

Interlocking Behavioral Contingencies (IBCs)Aggregate ProductReceiving SystemIBCs & aggregate product are the unit of selection at

the sociological level.Metacontingency & Macrocontingeny

Consumers Consumers and eventual organizational member

Psychological act with a sociological impact.

Metacontingency & MacrocontingencyGlenn (2004) concept of the macrocontingency: a

unit of analysis that describes the relations between a cultural practice and the cumulative consequences arising from all those within a culture that engage in that practice.

Language and the function of cultureSkinner: the function of culture is to bring

behavior under the control of long-term consequences.“This is its most important function….a culture

induces a hero to die for his country or a martyr for his religion” (Skinner, 1969, pp. 39-40).

Rule-governed behavior may be at the core of cultural phenomena.On the “production side” and the “consumer side”

of organizations, which produce many stimulus conditions (Houmanfar, Rodrigues, & Ward, under review).

Rule Governed Behavior & Indirect Acting ContingenciesLeader’s levelFollowers’ levelValue Alignment

EnvironmentalOpportun

ities-- Accessible Target-- Means at Hand-- Physical & Mental Capacity-- Enemies level of agility and alertness

Structural Factors

-- Order from Leader-- Target of Opportunity

Setting Factors

-- Deprivation-- Limited Recognition-- Marginalization-- Aversive Control

History of Rules & Models

-- “Satan Must Be Stopped”-- Previous Actors

Effective Consequences

-- Recognition-- Promised Rewards-- Countercontrol-- Departure of enemy-- Immediate and/or delayed economic impact

Ineffective Consequences

-- Small Chance of Punishment By Enemy-- Maintained presence of enemy

Ancillary Effects

Act of Martyrdo

m

EnvironmentalOpportuniti

es-- Accessible Target-- Means at Hand-- Physical & Mental Capacity-- Enemies level of agility and alertness

Structural Factors

-- Order from Leader-- Target of Opportunity-- Message from other leaders

Setting Factors

-- Deprivation-- Limited Recognition-- Marginalization-- Aversive Control

History of Rules & Models

-- “Satan Must Be Stopped”-- Previous Actors

Effective Consequences

-- Recognition-- Promised Rewards-- Countercontrol-- Departure of enemy-- Immediate and/or delayed economic impact

Ineffective Consequences

-- Small Chance of Punishment By Enemy-- Maintained presence of enemy

Ancillary Effects

Leader’s Decision

Houmanfar, Rodrigues, and Ward (2009) alignment:Socio-IBs are selected at the sociological level

Interlocked behaviors taken as an integrated whole that is substantively different unit at the sociological level.

IBs are selected at the psychological level Interlocked behavior of individuals.

Reciprocal influences between levels (also see Ward, 2009)Sociological events influence psychological events

(e.g., geopolitical events influence the prevalence of weapons and radical interpretations of Islam in Somalia)

Psychological events influence sociological events (e.g., leadership decisions can affect an entire organization or country).

Language and the function of cultureInteractions between levels of analysis

(production side):Leaders interact with sociological data (cultural

milieu) who then affect employee behavior through rule generation.

Rule governed behavior, communication networks, and problem-solving (Houmanfar, Rodrigues, and Smith, 2009; Ward, 2009).

Value alignment across an organization (Herbst & Houmanfar 2009).

.

Interaction between levels of analysis (consumer side):Individuals interact with organizational

products who then affect sociological events.Children’s TV shows in Palestine preaching

violence.Use of internet social networking and the

recent Iranian protests.The emergence of “leaderless jihad” terror

cells facilitated by the internet

Role of ConsumerConsumer as a collectivity of individuals

whose behaviors and practices are not only influenced by the aggregate product but also affect the future occurrences of the aggregate product and associated socio-IBs. Connection between the influence of aggregate

product on consumers’ similar patterns of responding that lead to not only the indirect selection of socio-IBs but also cumulative products or effects on the environment.

Consumer & consumer as a future member.

Metacotingency & Macrocontingency

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Psychological Change & Sociological ImpactRole of leaders is important due to their

involvement in group-rule generation and control over contingencies associated with governance of many individuals’ behaviors.

Psychological level of analysis and associated interventions at this level set the occasion for sociological impact at the socio-IBs and eventually macrocontingeny level through mediating effect of aggregate product.

ConclusionInfluences of political leadership at the

psychological level make the manipulation of the opportunistic circumstances for cultural practices (pro or against terror) more effective at the sociological level.

Further empirical analyses associated with leadership level interventions.