Human Conflict: Pacifists at Heart

Abstract

The breadth and depth of the Human Conflict issue (18 May, p. [818][1]) brings to mind Otto Rank's observation in Psychology and the Soul ([ 1 ][2]) that we still have primitive beliefs about death—for example, that heroic, spectacular, or sacrificial death conveys immortality, and that killing an enemy is killing death itself. After centuries of analyzing war, with its heroics and pathos, we have recently learned that most humans are like other social animals, which fight but instinctively stop short of intraspecies killing ([ 2 ][3]). Cited in 3 of the 11 special section Reviews and Perspectives, D. Grossman ([ 2 ][3]) found that most people, including soldiers, would sooner die than kill a person at close range. About 2% lack such inhibition ([ 2 ][3]); that characteristic is often expressed in military heroics. In civilian circumstances, the same characteristic is associated with tendencies toward antisocial behavior, including violent crime. This atypical group receives disproportionate attention in history and fiction, news and entertainment. Those in the pacifist majority can be disinhibited if ordered by an authority and supervised, confirming Stanley Milgram's findings that most of us will comply with orders that violate some of our principles ([ 3 ][4]). Modern psychological conditioning of U.S. troops has contributed to an increased shoot-to-kill percentage, from only 20% in World War II to 90% in Vietnam ([ 2 ][3]), but evidently at high cost. As S. Maguen reports (p. [843][5]), soldiers who have killed suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at higher rates. Veterans Administration psychologists recently coined the term “moral injury” ([ 4 ][6]), which relates to Maguen's point. The optimistic essay on PTSD by R. J. McNally (p. [872][7]) omits mention of suicide, which has reached alarming levels among U.S. troops and veterans ([ 5 ][8]). 1. [↵][9]1. O. Rank , Psychology and the Soul (Franz Deuticke, Lepzig, Germany, 1930); translated by G. C. Richter (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, MD, 1998). 2. [↵][10] , On Killing (Hachette Book Group, New York, 1995; revised and updated, 2009). 3. [↵][11]1. S. Milgram , The Perils of Obedience (Harpers, New York, 1973). 4. [↵][12]1. K. D. Drescher , Traumatology 17, 8 (2011). [OpenUrl][13][CrossRef][14] 5. [↵][15]1. T. Williams , “Suicides outpacing war deaths for troops,” The New York Times (9 June 2012), p. A10; [www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/us/suicides-eclipse-war-deaths-for-us-troops.html][16]. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.336.6083.818 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.336.6083.842 [6]: #ref-4 [7]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1222069 [8]: #ref-5 [9]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [10]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [11]: #xref-ref-3-1 View reference 3 in text [12]: #xref-ref-4-1 View reference 4 in text [13]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DTraumatology%26rft.volume%253D17%26rft.spage%253D8%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1177%252F1534765610395615%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [14]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1177/1534765610395615&link_type=DOI [15]: #xref-ref-5-1 View reference 5 in text [16]: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/us/suicides-eclipse-war-deaths-for-us-troops.html