Resisting moral disengagement in support for war: Use of the "Peace Test" Scale among student groups in 21 nations.

Grussendorf, Jeannie; McAlister, Alfred L.; Sandström, Patrick; Udd, Lina; Morrison, Theodore

doi:10.1207/s15327949pac0801_7

Cited by 36 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…At the same time, they tend to dismiss the idea that political leaders go to war because they are moved by "egocentric" economic considerations. These finding are consistent with previous findings showing an association between right wing authoritarianism and positive attitudes to war (Cohrs & Moschner, 2002;Doty, Winter, Peterson & Kemmelmeier, 1997;McFarland, 2005;Pratto et al, 1994), and with previous findings that examined lay people's moral justification of the acceptance of war (Bandura, 1999;Jackson & Gaertner, 2010;Grussendorf, McAlister, Sandstrom, Udd & Morrison, 2002;McAlister, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Public Perception of the Motives that Lead Political Leaders to Launch Interstate Armed Conflicts: A Structural and Cross-Cultural Study

Djeriouat¹,

Mullet

2013

Univ Psychol

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a b s t r a c tThe way the people from two culturally very different countries perceive the psychological motives that lead political leaders to launch armed actions against other states was examined. Three types of possible psychological motives, taken from McClelland's (1985) theory of human motivation, were considered: motives associated with the state's power (e.g., increasing the country's economic power), motives associated with other states' political character (e.g., whether neighboring states are relatively peaceful democracies or threatening autocracies), and motives associated with domestic issues (e.g., appearing as a strong leader able to efficiently fight for the security of the country). A total of 442 participants living in Western Europe (France) and 180 participants living in the Maghreb (Algeria) were presented with a Motives of War questionnaire that was created for the present set of studies. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses showed that the hypothesized model of motives holds with the condition that the increasing power motive is divided into two separate motives: one associated with the economy and one associated with the territory. The motives of war tended to be seen as more personal and as more associated with domestic issues among people living in Algeria than among people living in France. Among traditional/ authoritarian people living in France, the motives of war tended to be seen in a more positive light than among liberal people. In contrast, among traditional/authoritarian people living in Algeria, the motives of war tend to be seen in a more negative light than among liberal people. Key words authorsInternational Conflicts, Human Motivation, Aggression, Personality, Values, Conservatism. Key words plusPublic Perceptions, Structural and Transcultural Study r e s u m e n Se examina la forma en que las personas de dos países culturalmente muy diferentes perciben los motivos psicológicos que conducen a los líderes políticos a poner en marcha acciones armadas contra otro estados. Tres tipos de motivos psicológicos posibles, tomados de la teoría de McClelland (1985) sobre la motivación humana fueron consideradas: motivos asociados con el estado de poder (e.g., incrementar el poder económico del país),

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Public Perception of the Motives that Lead Political Leaders to Launch Interstate Armed Conflicts: A Structural and Cross-Cultural Study

Djeriouat¹,

Mullet

2013

Univ Psychol

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“…Moral disengagement. The extent that a person will disengage from moral proscriptions against killing in a war context was measured using the resistance to moral disengagement scale (Grussendorf et al, 2002). This scale employed 10 items measured on an 11-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 11 (strongly agree).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for diplomacy: Peacemaking and militarism as a unidimensional correlate of social, environmental, and political attitudes.

Vail¹,

Motyl²

2010

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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The Support for Diplomacy Scale (SDS) was developed to establish the unidimensional nature of peacemaking and militaristic attitudes. Across 5 studies, all 12 SDS items loaded strongly onto a single factor, with peaceful diplomacy at one pole and militarism at the other. The SDS was associated with authoritarianism (Studies 1-4) and dogmatism (Study 4), as well as measures of religious fundamentalism, immigration attitudes, universalism, and environmentalism (Study 2). In Study 3, the SDS mediated the relation between just peacemaking and measures of (a) voting intentions prior to the 2008 Presidential election, (b) militarism, and (c) resistance to moral disengagement from war. The SDS also predicted voting behavior in the 2008 Presidential election (Study 4) and mediated the relation between political orientation and foreign policy attitudes toward Iran (Study 5). Theoretical implications and statistical issues are discussed.We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war . . . we must shift the arms race into a peace Correspondence should be addressed to Kenneth E.

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“…In another study, a subset of the questions from McAlister's survey was used to study the attitudes of student groups in 21 nations. In this study, a strong correlation was found between a student's moral disengagement score and the percent of GNP spent on military spending (Grussendorf et al 2002). Howard et al have extended the use of McAlister's study of moral engagement to develop a web site for war prevention in which they used a moral disengagement survey modified from McAlister's.…”

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confidence: 76%

Student support towards war in college students from different religiously affiliated colleges in the Midwest of the United States

Burks

2010

Journal of Peace Education

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This study reports on a study of student attitudes towards war. To study the impact that the type of university attended has on a student's level of support for war and attitudes towards war a 15-question survey on moral disengagement in support of military actions based on one developed by McAlister was given to college students attending Quaker, Catholic and public universities in the Midwest of the USA in 2008. In a survey of 395 students, it was found that students from Quaker colleges were less morally disengaged from war than were students from both the Catholic and public colleges/universities. This observation is further supported when the mean support for war scores amongst the six schools involved in the survey were compared. One of the Quaker colleges was significantly different from the other five schools studied. This school heavily influenced the comparative difference observed by school type. Finally, when mean scores on each of the 15 questions were examined individually it was observed that lowest mean score on each individual question was observed at one of the Quaker colleges. At one Quaker college and at one Catholic college there was a trend towards lower levels of support for war from the first to fourth year of college. No significant trend was found at the other four schools. It was also observed that women had lower levels of support for war than men. This study found that students attending Quaker colleges, which profess a peace testimony as part of their mission statements, have lower levels of support for war and violence than students attending either Catholic or public colleges. This is suggestive that students attending Quaker colleges accept the peace components of their mission. In an additional survey, entering students at the Quaker college that was significantly different from the other schools were surveyed during first year orientation before classes began. These students were similar to matriculating students at that college. This observation is suggestive that students attending this college came to the college with lower levels of support for war attitudes.

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Resisting moral disengagement in support for war: Use of the "Peace Test" Scale among student groups in 21 nations.

Cited by 36 publications

References 10 publications

Public Perception of the Motives that Lead Political Leaders to Launch Interstate Armed Conflicts: A Structural and Cross-Cultural Study

Public Perception of the Motives that Lead Political Leaders to Launch Interstate Armed Conflicts: A Structural and Cross-Cultural Study

Support for diplomacy: Peacemaking and militarism as a unidimensional correlate of social, environmental, and political attitudes.

Student support towards war in college students from different religiously affiliated colleges in the Midwest of the United States

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