Social Psychology and Military

Social psychology is closely related to other fields of human activities and the degree to what this or that field is researched from social psychological point of view is very important for improvement of the general situation, especially if military conflicts are the subject of the research. It is not a secret that military is a very specific field and military conflicts practically always violate traditional ways of life, norms of behavior and cultural and moral values. One of the recent examples is the war in Iraq and probably the most notorious and publicized incident that is the prisoner abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib.
Obviously the reasons of such behavior from the part of soldiers are quite complex and it is hardly possible to give a definite answer. Nonetheless the basic reason lies on the surface and this reason is the war. It is evident that the war changes human behavior because an individual finds him/herself into abnormal circumstances. As a result, traditional, human norms of behavior are changed significantly and often soldiers as well as other participants of the military conflict behave abnormally too that is accompanied by deviant behavior.
Partially the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib may be explained by Hedonistic theory of action, which implies that human action occurs when the actors are compelled to increase their pleasure by achieving a goal or else they are compelled to relieve the burden of uneasiness by achieving a goal. In the context of Abu Ghraib, the behavior of soldiers may be explained by the psychological pressure they suffered from because the goal they aimed at was not fully achieved and their actions may be viewed upon as an attempt to relieve from this pressure. At the same time, it may be viewed as an attempt of soldiers to achieve higher, noble goals to keep peace and prevent the US from terror attack, for instance. But it this attempt obviously failed and in all probability such a deviant behavior of soldiers was the result of their trying to achieve a goal but they lack the appropriate resources or means to do it, as the anomie theory states.
Furthermore, it is possible to presuppose whether such incident could occur or not and what the principle ways of its prevention were. At this respect, it is necessary to realize that American soldiers are actually aliens in Iraq, they practically do not have some general idea about the local culture, traditions, etc. Naturally such a situation only deteriorates the consequences of military intervention. On the other hand a more profound knowledge of local traditions and culture and more communication could probably minimize the negative consequences of the conflict and make relations between opposing parts less tense for, according to intergroup contact hypothesis group conflict could be defused if both groups had more contact with one another.
Thus, in conclusion, it is just necessary to say that the soldiers involved in the prisoner abuse cases should be held legally responsible for their actions but at the same time it is necessary to take into considerations the circumstances, which led to such actions.

Bibliography:
1. Michener, A.H. Social Psychology. Toronto: Wadsworth, 2004.
2. Nielson, G. Social Psychology and Military Conflicts. New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.
3. Wilson, R. and D. Herrnstain. Crime and Human Nature. New York: Simon and Schu