How does exposure to conflict affect social preferences?

There is a growing body of evidence that exposure to violent conflict affects the deep determinants of behavior. These include individuals’ level of risk-aversion, discount rate and pro-social behaviors. A meta analysis of 23 papers that estimate the effect of violence on behavior, concludes that exposure to violence is related to increased social group participation, participation in community leadership, prosocial behavior in experimental games, voting and knowledge of and interest in politics. However, whether this relationship is causal remains an open question.