Understanding human behavior in times of war.
The Third Geneva Convention reflects on the values of humanism, declaring the rights of humaneness, honor, and protection before torture and final discharge of war prisoners after the end of a war. These days, the occurrences in Baghdad Central Detention Center (formerly known as Abu Ghraib Prison), the actions of British soldiers in Basra, and the inflamed public discussion of whether torture might be an appropriate method to obtain crucial information from terrorists put the Third Geneva Convention back in the spotlight. The aforementioned occurrences raise questions regarding the psychological mass phenomena that make us vulnerable to think and to act against our education, habits, and beliefs. Only an understanding of these phenomena will help us to act against behavior we condemn. This article is an attempt to show how cognition of societies and individuals slowly changes during longer conflicts. Furthermore, it tries to summarize the possibilities we have to confront these tendencies.
Vetter
Stefan
S
Center for Disaster and Military Psychiatry, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
D032981:Dehumanization; D045809:Human Rights Abuses; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D008890:Military Psychiatry; D011329:Prisoners / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011593:Psychology, Social; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology; D014104:Torture / Q000941:ethics*; D014480:United Nations; D014857:Warfare / Q000941:ethics*