This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Violence and Human Rights  • War  • Violence and Human Rights, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56:980.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

MUTUALLY reinforcing psychological determinants contributes powerfully to the tendency of group conflicts to escalate into deadly confrontations. The ability to wage deadly conflicts depends on the power of the resources available to leaders on each side, and more importantly, on the strength of the will to prevail. To this end, typically groups in conflict are initially led by small leadership cadres committed to the same worldview as the leader. Thus, leaders and followers mutually support each other.

Characteristic of successful leaders is their persistence in pursuing their goals despite suffering humiliation, defeats, and so forth, and they have the power to persuade their followers to do likewise. Furthermore, powerful leaders reach the top of their societies by persisting in the face of privations, threats, and other negative reinforcements.

Another contributor to the escalation of violence in conflicts is that the behavior of leaders and followers is increasingly governed by emotions, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?