The next three chapters apply the theory and method developed here to a central problem for the human sciences and for humanity as a whole, the origins of protracted and destructive conflict. This problem is especially puzzling when there is very little difference between the combatants, as was the case with the First World War, in contrast with the Second World War, in which the vast difference in outlook between the Allies and the German, Japanese and Italian dictatorships made war inevitable. It is also puzzling when continued conflict brings suffering and ruin to both parties equally, to the point of self-destruction, which was also the case with the First World War.

The part/whole method and the theory of shame/anger spirals offers an explanation of destructive conflict at both interpersonal and inter group levels. The next three chapters focus on generating an explicit theory that is only touched on in the earlier chapters. Hints as to the affinity between anger and shame in the empirical work of Helen Lewis (1971) were developed and elaborated by Retzinger and myself. We proposed that a necessary condition for destructive conflict is unacknowledged shame, feelings of rejection and/or inadequacy that are so disguised and transmuted as to be almost invisible to the combatants. My analysis of emotions in this book is based on the coding system developed by Retzinger (see Appendix) that enables one to identify shame and anger even when they are elaborately disguised.