The Stream of Thought, the Lifespace, Selective Inattention, and War

Abstract

The analogy of a moving flashlight enables us to integrate three concepts that are basic but not ordinarily seen as related to each other: William James's "stream of thought," Kurt Lewin's "lifespace," and Harry Stack Sullivan's "selective inattention." Lewin's lifespace, conceived as the psychological field at a given moment, resembles the field of objects lit up by a moving flashlight at a given moment; it has a bright center consisting of what is at the focus of attention and a fainter periphery or penumbra consisting of what is in the field but with little or no salience. James's stream of thought resembles the continual changing of this field as attention shifts and new objects of thought pass through the periphery into the center or vice versa. Sullivan's selective inattention is motivated resistance to the change from periphery to center. War becomes more likely when there is selective inattention to the following: * the enormity of the nuclear danger and possible ideas about how to prevent it (Lifton's "psychic numbing"); * the enormous deficit, caused partly by spending on nuclear weapons; * the human side of an enemy; realistic empathy with an enemy's fear of the self or anger at the self; and * incipient guilt feelings, such as Soviet qualms about Afghanistan or American qualms about Nicaragua.