One of the roots of our misunderstanding of the psychology of the battlefield lies in the misapplication of the fight-or-fight model to the stresses of the battlefield.
An edition of On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
(1995)
On Killing
The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
1st pbk. ed.
by Dave Grossman
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The good news is that most soldiers are loath to kill. But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. And contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army's conditioning techniques, and, according to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's thesis, is responsible for our rising rate of murder among the young. Upon its initial publication, On Killing was hailed as a landmark study of the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects soldiers, and of the societal implications of escalating violence. Now, Grossman has updated this classic work to include information on 21st-century military conflicts, recent trends in crime, suicide bombings, school shootings, and more. - Publisher.
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Subjects
Combat, Homicide, Military Psychology, Psychological aspects, Psychological aspects of Combat, Psychological aspects of Homicide, Psychological aspects of Violence, Psychology, Military, Social aspects, Social aspects of Violence, Violence, Psychology, Tötung, War, Krieg, Militärpsychologie, Armed Conflicts, Psychologie, Fremder Feind, Mord, War and society, Violence, psychological aspects, Psychological warfareShowing 2 featured editions. View all 11 editions?
| Edition | Availability |
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1
On killing: the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society
2009, Little, Brown and Co.
in English
- Rev. ed.
0316040932 9780316040938
|
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2
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
1996, Little, Brown
in English
- 1st pbk. ed.
0316330116 9780316330114
|
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Libraries near you:
WorldCat
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Book Details
Table of Contents
Sec. 1. Killing and the existence of resistance : a world of virgins studying sex. Chap. 1. Fight or flights, posture or submit
Chap. 2. Nonfirers throughout history
Chap. 3. Why can't Johnny kill?
Chap. 4. The nature and source of resistance
Sec. 2. Killing and combat trauma : the role of killing in psychiatric casualties
Chap. 1. The nature of psychiatric casualties : the psychological price of war
Chap. 2. The reign of fear
Chap. 3. The weight of exhaustion
Chap. 4. The mud of guilt and horror
Chap. 5. The wind of hate
Chap. 6. The well of fortitude
Chap. 7. The burden of killing
Chap. 8. The blind men and the elephant
Sec. 3. Killing and physical distance : from a distance, you don't look anything like a friend. Chap. 1. Distance : a qualitative distinction in death
Chap. 2. Killing at maximum and long range : never a need for repentance or regret
Chap. 3. Killing at mid- and hand-grenade range : "you can never be sure it was you"
Chap. 4. Killing at close range : "I knew that it was up to me, personally, to kill him"
Chap. 5. Killing at edged-weapons range : an "intimate brutality"
Chap. 6. Killing at hand-to-hand combat range
Chap. 7. Killing at sexual range : "the primal aggression, the release, and orgasmic discharge"
Sec. 4. An anatomy of killing : all factors considered. Chap. 1. The demands of authority : Milgram and the military
Chap. 2. Group absolution : "the individual is not a killer, but the group is"
Chap. 3. Emotional distance : "to me they were less than animals"
Chap. 4. The nature of the victim : relevance and payoff
Chap. 5. Aggressive predisposition of the killer : avengers, conditioning, and the 2 percent who like it
Chap. 6. All factors considered : the mathematics of death
Sec. 5. Killing and atrocities : "no honor here, no virtue." Chap. 1. The full spectrum of atrocity
Chap. 2. The dark power of atrocity
Chap. 3. The entrapment of atrocity
Chap. 4. A case study in atrocity
Chap. 5. The greatest trap of all : to live with that which thou hath wrought
Sec. 6. Chap. 1. The killing response stages
Chap. 2. Applications of the model : murder-suicides, lost elections, and thoughts of insanity
Sec. 7. Chap. 1. Desensitization and conditioning in Vietnam : overcoming the resistance to killing
Chap. 2. What have we done to our soldiers? : the rationalization of killing and how it failed in Vietnam
Chap. 3. Post-traumatic stress disorder and the cost of killing in Vietnam
Chap. 4. The limits of human endurance and the lessons of Vietnam
Sec. 8. Killing in America : what are we doing to our children? Chap. 1. A virus of violence
Chap. 2. Desensitization and Pavlov's dog at the movies
Chap. 3. B.F. Skinner's rats and operant conditioning at the video arcade
Chap. 4. Social learning and role models in the media
Chap. 5. The resensitization of America.
Edition Notes
Originally published: 1995.
"Back Bay books."
Includes bibliographical references (p. [348]-352) and index.
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- Created October 16, 2008
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| April 4, 2024 | Edited by OL-00 | Edited without comment. |
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