Abstract
IN an address at a public luncheon given by the National Institute of Industrial Psychology on January 13, Dr. William Brown said that the psychology of international relations, otherwise the psychology of peace and war, can be adequately discussed only on the basis of a scientific study of the human mind. Dr. Brown is convinced that the latest war was not the last. He compared it with a manic-depressive patient who, after a state of deep depression, passes into one of exaltation and feels that never again will his old symptoms return. Of a patient of this kind it is known that sooner, or later he will have another relapse. Although psychological treatment can benefit such a patient, and in some cases produce recovery, the underlying physical and mental causes of the illness remain obscure. So it is with war and peace. Psychologists cannot yet claim that a solution has been discovered. All they can do is to go on and disentangle the various forces which are at work to produce war. Of these forces, one of the most important is the primitive struggle for existence. It is not possible, however, said Dr. Brown, to deduce the social behaviour of a man from his purely individual behaviour. Man still carries with him tendencies towards more primitive forms of mental reaction such as are appropriate to the early stages of national and social evolution. These primitive forms of reaction are very clearly revealed in criminal behaviour, in panic-stricken flight and in certain mass movements. The possibility of mass mental reactions have an obvious bearing upon the problem of war and peace. For such primitive forces as self-preservation and self-assertion, while valuable in many respects, yet if used in certain ways, are irreconcilable with ultimate peace between individuals or between nations.
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Psychology of International Relations. Nature 141, 152 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141152b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141152b0