“Devoted actors” adhere to sacred values that generate actions dissociated from rationally expected risks and rewards. These are human beings who die and kill in the name of ineffable values such as God, the nation, the leader, or salvation.

Suicide bombers are devoted actors, but so were many of the union and confederate soldiers of the civil war, Nazi SS-men, as well as Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. What is it about certain abstract ideas or ideals that generates willingness to die and kill in their name? What are the benefits or rewards?