On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

Aggressive assault is “assault with intent to kill or for the purpose of inflicting severe bodily injury” (303). Grossman notes the sharp increase in the rate of aggravated assault in the US and seeks to explain it via the media conditioning that children and teens receive.

Based on Pavlov’s experiments with dogs, classical conditioning is the association of pleasurable experiences with activities. It has been used to desensitize soldiers to violence. Grossman alleges that violent movies desensitize young people to violence, which they associate with positive experiences, such as food and dating.

A close-range kill is any kill with “a projectile weapon from point-blank range, extending to midrange” (114). These kills are personal, with no denial of responsibility possible on the part of the killer. Grossman argues that killing at this range causes intense psychological trauma.