Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-2l2gl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T12:24:20.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Attitudes toward War in the United States and Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Saba Torabian  and
Marina Abalakina
Saba Torabian
Affiliation:
University of California Davis
Marina Abalakina
Affiliation:
San Francisco State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Understanding the determinants of attitudes toward war is important for the prevention of military conflicts and the promotion of peaceful conflict resolution. To examine American and Iranian attitudes toward war, questionnaires were administered to American and Iranian college students in the United States and Iran respectively. The results of the study revealed that American students generally have more positive attitudes toward war than Iranian students. Since most Iranians in the sample experienced eight years of war with Iraq whereas Americans never had direct experience of war, it was predicted that direct experiences of military action could explain this cross-national difference. Among Iranians those who experienced the Iran–Iraq war had more negative attitudes toward war compared to Iranians who did not have such experiences. The results further demonstrated that being authoritarian, religious and male were independently related to having positive attitudes toward war in both samples.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , June 2012 , pp. 463 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This study was conducted by Saba Torabian while she was pursuing her Master's degree at San Francisco State University. We would like to express our gratitude to Farideh Jomehri for her help and support in collecting data in Iran.

References

1 Listhaug, O., “War and Defense Attitudes: A First Look at Survey Data from 14 Countries,” Journal of Peace Research, 23, no. 1 (1986): 69–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Westman, A. S. and Lewandowski, L. M., “How Empathy, Egocentrism, Kohlberg's Moral Development, and Erikson's Psychological Development are Related to Attitudes toward War,” Psychological Reports, 69, no. 3 (1991): 1123–27Google Scholar.

3 Listhaug, “War and Defense Attitudes.”

4 Covell, K., “National and Gender Differences in Adolescents' War Attitudes,” International Journal of Behavioral Development, 19, no. 4 (1996): 871–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Cogan, J., Torney-Purta, J. and Anderson, D., “Knowledge and Attitudes toward Global Issues: Students in Japan and the United States,” Comparative Education Review, 32, no. 3 (1988): 282–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 McAlister, A., Sandstrom, P., Puska, P., Veijo, A., Chereches, R. and Heidmets, L., “Attitudes towards War, Killing, and Punishment of Children among Young People in Estonia, Finland, Romania, the Russian Federation, and the USA,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 79, no. 5 (2001): 382–98Google Scholar.

7 Jagodic, G. K., “Is War a Good or a Bad Thing? The Attitudes of Croatian, Israeli, and Palestinian Children toward War,” International Journal of Psychology, 35, no. 6 (2000): 1–257Google Scholar.

8 Punamaki, R. L., “Can Ideological Commitment Protect Children's Psychological Wellbeing in Situations of Political Violence?,” Child Development, 67, no. 1 (1996): 55–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Punamaki, R. L., Quota, S. and Sarrai, E., “Models of Traumatic Experiences and Children's Psychological Adjustment: The Roles of Perceived Parenting and the Children's Own Resources and Activity,” Child Development, 68, no. 4 (1997): 718–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Shamai, M. and Kimhi, S., “Exposure to Threat of War and Terror, Political Attitudes, Stress, and Life Satisfaction among Teenagers in Israel,” Journal of Adolescence, 29, no. 2 (2006): 165–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Gartner, S. S. and Segura, G. M., “Race, Casualties, and Opinion in the Vietnam War,” Journal of Politics, 62, no. 1 (2000): 115–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Gartner, S. S., Segura, G. M. and Wilkening, M., “All Politics are Local,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41, no. 5 (1997): 669–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Listhaug, “War and Defense Attitudes.”

14 Rajaee, Farhang, The Iran–Iraq War: The Politics of Aggression (Gainesville, FL, 1993)Google Scholar.

15 Altemeyer, Bob, Enemies of Freedom (San Francisco, CA, 1988)Google Scholar.

16 Altemeyer, Bob, The Authoritarian Specter (Cambridge, MA, 1996)Google Scholar.

17 Van Hiel, A., Duriez, B. and Kossowska, M., “The Presence of Left-Wing Authoritarianism in Western Europe and Its Relationship with Conservative Ideology,” Political Psychology, 27, no. 5 (2006): 769–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Altemeyer, Bob, “The Other Authoritarian Personality,” in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. Zanna, M. P. (San Diego, CA, 1998)Google Scholar.

19 Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter.

20 Izzett, R. R., “Authoritarianism and Attitudes toward the Vietnam War as Reflected in Behavioral and Self-report Measure,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, no. 2 (1971): 145–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Grenberg, D. and Corrigan, G., “Authoritarianism, Dogmatism and Orientations toward the Vietnam War,” Sociometry, 35, no. 3 (1972): 468–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Doty, R. M., Winter, D. G., Peterson, B. E. and Kemmeimeier, M., “Authoritarianism and American Students' Attitudes about the Gulf War, 1990–1996,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, no. 1 (1997): 1133–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Duncan, L. E. and Stewart, A. J., “Still Bringing the Vietnam War home: Sources of Contemporary Student Activism,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, no. 9 (1995): 914–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 McFarland, S. G., “On the Eve of War: Authoritarianism, Social Dominance, and American Students' Attitudes toward Attacking Iraq,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, no. 3 (2005): 360–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 Crowson, H. M., DeBacker, T. K. and Thoma, S. J., “Does Authoritarianism Predict Post-9/11 Attitudes?,” Personality and Individual Differences, 39, no. 37 (2005): 1273–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 Lyall, H. C. and Thorsteinsson, E. B., “Attitudes to the Iraq War and Mandatory Detention of Asylum Seekers: Associations with Authoritarianism, Social Dominance, and Mortality Salience,” Australian Journal of Psychology, 59, no. 2 (2007): 70–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Jelen, T. G., “Religion and Foreign Policy Attitudes: Exploring the Effects of Denomination and Doctrine,” American Politics Quarterly, 22, no. 3 (1994): 382–400CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Tessler, M. and Nachtwey, J., “Islam and Attitudes toward International Conflict,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, 42, no. 5 (1998): 619–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Russell, E. W., “Christianity and Militarism,” Peace Research Reviews, 4, no. 3 (1971): 1–77Google Scholar.

29 Krus, D. J. and Webb, J. M., “Contributions to Psychohistory: XXII. Quantification of Santayana's Cultural Schism Theory,” Psychological Reports, 72, no. 1 (1993): 319–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Altemeyer, B. and Hunsberger, B., “Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice,” International Journal of the Psychology of Religion, 2, no. 2 (1992): 113–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kirkpatrick, L., “Fundamentalism, Christian Orthodoxy, and Intrinsic Religious Orientation as Predictors of Discriminatory Attitudes,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32, no. 3 (1993): 256–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Altemeyer, B., “What Happens when Authoritarians Inherit the Earth? A Simulation,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 3, no. 1 (2003): 161–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Silverman, J. M. and Kumka, D. S., “Gender Difference in Attitudes toward Nuclear War and Disarmament,” Sex Roles, 16, nos. 3/4 (1987): 189–203CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Wright, J. D., “The Working Class, Authoritarianism, and the War in Vietnam,” Social Problems, 20, no. 2 (1972): 133–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 Wilcox, C., Hewitt, L. and Allsop, D., “The Gender Gap in Attitudes toward the Gulf War: A Cross-national Perspective,” Journal of Peace Research, 33, no. 1 (1996): 67–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Bendyna, M. E., Finucane, T., Kirby, L., O'Donnell, J. P and Wicox, C., “Gender Differences in Public Attitudes toward the Gulf War: A Test of Competing Hypotheses,” The Social Science Journal, 33, no. 1 (1996): 1–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 Heskin, K. and Power, V., “The Determinants of Australians' Attitudes toward the Gulf War,” The Journal of Social Psychology, 134, no. 3 (1994): 317–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

37 Rohall, D. E., Ender, M. G. and Matthews, M. D., “The Effects of Military Affiliation, Gender, and Political Ideology on Attitudes toward the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Armed Forces and Society, 33, no. 1 (2006): 59–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 Ender, M. G. and Rohall, D. E., “Race, Gender, and Class: Attitudes toward the War in Iraq and President Bush among Military Personnel,” Race, Gender and Class, 14, nos. 3/4 (2007): 99–116Google Scholar.

39 Elder, L. and Greene, S., “The Myth of ‘Security Moms’ and ‘NASCAR Dads’: Parenthood, Political Stereotypes, and the 2004 Election,” Social Science Quarterly, 88, no. 1 (2007): 1–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Roscoe, B., Stevenson, B. W. and Yacobozzi, B. K., “Conventional Warfare and the United States Military Involvement in Latin America: Early Adolescents' Views,” Adolescence, 23, no. 90 (1988): 357–72Google Scholar.

41 Covell, “National and Gender Differences in Adolescents' War Attitudes.”

42 Eisenstein, Hester, Contemporary Feminist Thought (Boston, MA, 1983)Google Scholar; Jaggar, Alison, Feminist Politics and Human Nature (Totowa, NJ, 1983)Google Scholar; Peterson, V. Spike, Gendered States: Feminist Revisions of International Relations Theory (Boulder, CO, 1994)Google Scholar.

43 Fukuyama, F. E., “Women and the Evolution of World Politics,” Foreign Affairs, 77, no. 5 (1998): 24–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ruddick, Sara, Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace (Boston, MA, 1989)Google Scholar.

44 Nincic, M. and Nincic, D. J., “Race, Gender, and War,” Journal of Peace Research, 39, no. 5 (2002): 547–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 Franc, R., Kuterovac, G. and Stuvland, R., “Upitnik djecjih stresnih i traumatskih ratnih iskustava” [Questionnaire on Children's Stressful and Traumatic War Experiences], in Materijali za seminar u Tuhlejskim Toplicama, ed. Barath, A., Matulic, V., Miharija, Z. and Leko, A. (Zagreb, Croatia, 1993), 3Google Scholar.

46 Altemeyer, Enemies of Freedom.

47 Koenig, H. G., Parkerson, G. R. and Meador, K. G., “Religion Index for Psychiatric Research,” American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, no. 6 (1997): 885–86Google Scholar.

48 Tessler and Nachtwey, “Islam and Attitudes toward International Conflict.”

49 Farrell, A. D. and Bruce, S. E., “Impact of Exposure to Community Violence on Violent Behavior and Emotional Distress among Urban Adolescents,” Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, no. 1 (1997): 2–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

50 Jensen, Peter S., “Practical Approaches to Research with Children in Violent Settings,” in Minefields in their Hearts: The Mental Health of Children in War and Communal Violence, ed. Apfel, R. J. and Simon, B. (New Haven, CT, 1996), 206Google Scholar.

51 Shamai and Kimhi, “Exposure to Threat of War and Terror, Political Attitudes, Stress, and Life Satisfaction among Teenagers in Israel.”

52 Mueller, J. E., War, Presidents, and Public Opinion (New York, 1973 )Google Scholar; Wright, “The Working Class, Authoritarianism, and the War in Vietnam.”

53 Larry J. Diamond, Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (Baltimore, MD, 1999).

54 McFarland, S. G., Ageyev, V. S. and Abalakina-Paap, M. A., “Authoritarianism in the Former Soviet Union,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, no. 6 (1992): 1004–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

55 Russell, “Christianity and Militarism.”

56 Tessler and Nachtwey, “Islam and Attitudes toward International Conflict.”

57 Keown, Damien, A Review of Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2000)Google Scholar.