Tragedy on US's largest army base
Nathan Andrews
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: News
Yet, people are quite unique, and may react to situations and even treatments differently.
"Personality and other individual differences typically influence behaviour across a variety of situations," said Dr. Gordon Hodson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Brock University. "To me, it makes sense to think of personality as being relatively stable (e.g., Jim is generally disorganized; Suzy is friendly), but of course situations and contexts can influence the expression of underlying personality variation."
Hodson added that although psychologists generally contest this, it is believed that people take up new selves under certain peculiar situations. This is evident in Phil Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect where he argues that "good people turn evil" in strong situations that remove individuals from regular norms and constraints, and replace them with new ones.
One might think that the military - considered by some sociologists to be a total institution - shapes its members to adopt a new personality once they are admitted. But Hodson thinks people can often de-select themselves from institutions, or be de-selected by the institution.
"I'm not convinced there is a soldier's personality, any more than there is a professor's personality, or a taxi-driver's personality," said Hodson.
While Hodson's point is noted, some soldiers find it difficult reintegrating into civil society.
"We can infer from the high rate of drug addiction among soldiers in the field [and] the high 'crime' rate among veterans," said Dr. Tamari Kitossa, Sociology Professor at Brock University. "There are 20,000 British ex-servicemen in jail or on probation."
As much as national defence and global security is paramount, Kitossa has challenged us to re-think the essence of war.
"We are dominated by spin and military propaganda that we are not really questioning whether war is a failure rather than a success," said Kitossa. "It can hardly be said that by roping depleted uranium and phosphorus bombs, […] the cause war seeks to address is any further in being solved. Our young men and women's lives could surely be put to better use."
Having captured all these perspectives, and also as the US intelligence probes further to find answers to what prompted Hasan's actions, we can still raise questions about our military establishment and ask whether it is an end in itself or offers a means to an end. At least, one can only hope the Nov. 5 incidence will not recur elsewhere.
"Personality and other individual differences typically influence behaviour across a variety of situations," said Dr. Gordon Hodson, Associate Professor of Psychology at Brock University. "To me, it makes sense to think of personality as being relatively stable (e.g., Jim is generally disorganized; Suzy is friendly), but of course situations and contexts can influence the expression of underlying personality variation."
Hodson added that although psychologists generally contest this, it is believed that people take up new selves under certain peculiar situations. This is evident in Phil Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect where he argues that "good people turn evil" in strong situations that remove individuals from regular norms and constraints, and replace them with new ones.
One might think that the military - considered by some sociologists to be a total institution - shapes its members to adopt a new personality once they are admitted. But Hodson thinks people can often de-select themselves from institutions, or be de-selected by the institution.
"I'm not convinced there is a soldier's personality, any more than there is a professor's personality, or a taxi-driver's personality," said Hodson.
While Hodson's point is noted, some soldiers find it difficult reintegrating into civil society.
"We can infer from the high rate of drug addiction among soldiers in the field [and] the high 'crime' rate among veterans," said Dr. Tamari Kitossa, Sociology Professor at Brock University. "There are 20,000 British ex-servicemen in jail or on probation."
As much as national defence and global security is paramount, Kitossa has challenged us to re-think the essence of war.
"We are dominated by spin and military propaganda that we are not really questioning whether war is a failure rather than a success," said Kitossa. "It can hardly be said that by roping depleted uranium and phosphorus bombs, […] the cause war seeks to address is any further in being solved. Our young men and women's lives could surely be put to better use."
Having captured all these perspectives, and also as the US intelligence probes further to find answers to what prompted Hasan's actions, we can still raise questions about our military establishment and ask whether it is an end in itself or offers a means to an end. At least, one can only hope the Nov. 5 incidence will not recur elsewhere.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Michael M. Hobby
posted 11/17/09 @ 2:29 PM EST
When I heard of this horrible event, it reminded me of the last few seconds of the Zeitgeist addendum, when people in all walks of life, including a soldier with an automatic weapon, removed the the tokens that symbolized the pitting of mankind against one another, and dropped them to the ground, in efect, leaving the system of me vs. (Continued…)
carl wells
posted 1/19/10 @ 10:47 PM EST
having served with the 82nd airborne in the middle east Tamari Kitossa needs to get his facts clarified before making misleading statements with respect to statistics. (Continued…)
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