Peace through strength versus peace through nonviolence: Attitudes toward human nature and personal power, self-esteem, locus of control, and attitudes toward war

This paper examined personality variables and attitudes toward war. A theoretical framework involving (a) self-esteem, (b) locus of control, (c) views about human aggressiveness, and (d) belief in personal power was posited to differentiate between greater and lesser support for war. Theories on aggression and research on self-esteem and locus of control are reviewed. Surveys measuring self-esteem, locus of control (LOC) and attitudes toward war were administered to 111 undergraduate students at The American University: 84 Anglo-Americans (47 females, 37 females) and 27 non-Anglo-Americans. Support for war was significantly correlated with greater belief in inherent human aggressiveness (Anglo-American females), less belief in personal power to oppose war (all subjects), higher powerful others LOC (Anglo-American females), and contrary to expectations, higher internal LOC among Anglo-American males. Men and conservatives were significantly more pro-war than women and liberals respectively. Further research is warranted to clarify these relationships.