BCC Students to Present Research on Iraq Veterans
PITTSFIELD — Five current and former psychology students from Berkshire Community College have been invited to present the findings of their original Iraq research this summer in Boston during the annual convention of theAmerican Psychological Association.
Thought to be the first community college students ever invited to share their work at an annual APA convention, the students will present their findings of cognitive dissonance among Iraq Ear veterans who were
directly involved in Iraqi fatalities.
In the yearlong research project, 61 veterans from seven states indicated whether they had participated in war-related killings, scored American and Iraqi civilians on six traits, and rated the war's benefit to both countries.
The group involved in killings showed dissonance by giving significantly lower ratings to American civilians and viewing the war as more beneficial to both countries than did fellow soldiers who had not killed.
Psychologists define dissonance as a kind of stress that occurs when a person holds two conflicting cognitions, such as "I am humane" and "I have killed." Typically, people resolve such tension by disparaging their victims, or rationalizing their own mistakes.
The BCC research discovered a new twist on this pattern when the veterans did not disparage their victims but those whom they perceived as their critics. In addition to giving American civilians lower ratings, several of these soldiers described their fellow citizens as "uninformed," "weak" and as "cowards."
The study, titled "Blaming the Innocent: Cognitive Dissonance in Iraq War Veterans," also found self-described moderates and conservatives accounting for a large majority of anti-war sentiment within the military, with liberals accounting for less than a third.
"The ratings and comments of 61 respondents," the report states, "provide compelling evidence of the bewilderment, anger and shame that none of them anticipated — but all Americans should remember."
The BCC researchers were Deirdre Barry, Leah Dillard and Haili Polo-Neil of Pittsfield, Jesslyn Schnopp of Dalton and Megan Warriner of Cummington. BCC professor of psychology Wayne Klug supervised the students.
