Killology

Killology is the study of the psychological and physiological effects of killing and combat on the human psyche; and the factors that enable and restrain a combatant's killing of others in these situations.

The term and field of study was invented by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (US Army, Ret.) of the Killology Research Group in his 1996 book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society.

Grossman claims in his book On Killing that soldiers are faced with four options once they have entered into combat. These are:

S.L.A. Marshall did a study on the firing rates of soldiers in World War II. He found that the ratio of rounds fired vs. hits was low; he also noted that the majority of soldiers were not aiming to hit their targets. This was a problem for the US military and its allies during World War II. New training implements were developed and hit rates improved. The changes were small, but effective. First, instead of shooting at bull's-eye type tagets, the United States Army switched to silhouette targets that mimic an average human. Training also switched from 300 yard slow fire testing to rapid fire testing with different time and distance intervals from 20 to 300 yards. With these two changes, hitting targets became a reaction that was almost automatic.

Some authors have discredited S.L.A. Marshall's book, stating that the book may be more of an idea of what was occurring and not a scientific study of what was happening. Other historians and journalists have outright accused Marshall of fabricating his study.

Another important factor that increased fire and hit rates is the development of camaraderie in training. Soldiers are taught that their actions do not only help or harm themselves, but the whole unit. This recurring theme in recollections collected from war veterans is the idea that they were not fighting for themselves at the time but more concerned for the people to their left and right. This ideology is ancient and was recorded by Sun Tzu in his book The Art of War "If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves, the army is suffering from thirst."

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