War and Gender/Sexual Violence

Epidemiology of violence and war.

The magnitude of the threat that violence and war pose to the health, the quality of life, and the very survival of humanity is obvious. A number of scientific disciplines have provided, each through its own methodology, insights into the causation, genesis, and dynamics of violence and war. Although epidemiological and psychological methodologies received priority, the multidisciplinary approa...

Evolutionary Perspectives on Violence, Homicide, and War

We review and discuss the evolutionary psychological literature on violence, homicide, and war in humans and nonhumans, and in doing so we argue that an evolutionary perspective can substantially enhance our understanding of these behaviors. We provide a brief primer on evolutionary psychology, describing basic tenets of the field. The theories of sexual selection and parental investment are ex...

Freud on the State, Violence, and War

Can Civilian Attitudes Predict Civil War Violence?

Are civilian attitudes a useful predictor of patterns of violence in civil wars? A prominent debate has emerged among scholars and practitioners about the importance of winning civilian “hearts and minds” for influencing their wartime behavior. We argue that such efforts may have a dark side: insurgents can use pro-counterinsurgent attitudes as cues to select their targets and tactics. We condu...

The Uninvited Guest of War Enters Childhood: Developmental and Personality Aspects of War and Military Violence

Children show great differences in their ways of appraising threat, seeking help, and expressing emotions when facing traumatic events. This chapter focuses on developmental and personality aspects of trauma responses. It is hypothesized that each developmental age provides children unique protecting resources, on one hand, and makes them vulnerable, on the other. These protecting and risk dyna...