Self-Defense Motive Leads Homicidal-Impulse Survey

In a discussion of the motives leading to homicide, Gordon W. Allport, professor of Psychology, revealed Wednesday that the average student at Harvard regarded self-defense as the most compelling cause for killing condoned by society. This statement is based on the results of a poll of three hundred students studying psychology under Professor Allport, which was conducted on March 17 in a class of three hundred students studying Dynamic Psychology.

Eight Causes

The poll was conducted to determine which of eight fundamental causes for homicide, all condoned by the law, would be most likely to arouse in the students the urge to kill. After self-defense the students listed defense of family, defense of country, and defense of another human, as the most compelling motives for manslaughter.

Willingness to kill in defense of one's family, maintained its position of second "favorite" motive, showing that in spite of the psychological pressure on students caused by the war, the instinct to maintain the safety of oneself and one's family remain as the strongest potential actives for killing.

Patriotism, or willingness to kill for one's country, was ranked as the third most pressing cause for homicide, exhibiting forcibly the mental conditioning of Harvard students for war. This belligerent attitude reflects the trend which first became evident among students after the entrance of the United States into the war. Before December 1941, student opinion was strongly pacifistic, manifesting itself in many movements designed to prevent U. S. participation in the war. This pacifism was reflected in the poll as patriotism was rated as only the sixth most compelling homicidal motive. Undoubtedly, this reflects the troubled state of the students, many of whom are approaching military age, and who expect to enter into the armed forces within the next year.

Of the eight possible causes which could be cited as justification of homicide the students generally agreed that killing in defense of property and honor were the least justifiable, and therefore placed them at the end of the list.