Social cohesion and self-sacrificing behavior

A model developed in this paper shows a mechanism for inducing self-sacrificing contributions among members of closely knit organizations, such as cults, terrorist groups and military forces. Members are assumed to gain utility from social cohesion and their in-group reputations. When social cohesion strengthens, members ascribe more importance to their reputations. This prompts them to increase their contributions to group goals, which causes social cohesion to strengthen further. The model identifies three ways for leaders to initiate this multiplier process: increasing their own contribution, putting effort into indoctrinating members, and raising the obstacles that members face when they contribute.