WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY? THE EFFECT OF MORAL AND SOCIAL GOALS ON THIRD PARTY INTERVENTION IN INTERGROUP CONFLICT

Abstract

Conflict draws our attention. Observers of a conflict transform themselves from neutral third parties into participants when they choose to intervene in the conflict. In the digital age, localized conflicts can transcend borders and draw in participants from different countries. Participants express their support in different ways. They may post online, contribute financially, or even fly overseas in support of a cause. To understand why third parties are willing to involve themselves in intergroup conflict, we examine the goals of these parties. We investigate the goals of third parties by creating an instrumentality map of the options available to third parties. We show that these instrumentality maps can be used to predict how third parties intervene in intergroup conflict at a personal cost. We demonstrate that third parties possess multiple social and moral goals, and that the prediction of third parties’ intervention requires an account of a combination of these goals.