Performance of UN Military Observer Teams: Does Victim Proximity Escalate Commitment to Saving Lives?

Abstract

A field experiment examined the tactical peacekeeping behaviors of military-officer teams undergoing training as United Nations military observers. Teams encountered a simulated human-rights violation where two civilians were being abused. Proximity of the female civilian to the team leader was manipulated and significantly influenced teams' commitment to saving the civilians' lives. Proximity increased the frequency of behaviors that were specifically oriented toward saving the civilians' lives and did not increase confrontational behavior. Finally, trainees' performance assessments were lower if they intervened but failed to save lives than if they did little to intervene and also failed to save lives.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA525277

Entities

People

  • Barbara D. Adams
  • David R Mandel
  • Michael H. Thomson
  • Oshin Vartanian

Organizations

  • Defence Research and Development Canada

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Applied Psychology
  • Crime
  • Human Rights
  • International Conflicts
  • International Relations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Training
  • New York
  • Observers
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology
  • Statistics
  • Training
  • United Nations
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution
  • Military Training and Readiness Simulation
  • Organizational Psychology.