View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is not a sign of psychological trauma discussed in Chapter 1?

2. In the study cited by Grossman at the end of Chapter 5, what stimulus was applied to test dogs?

3. What percentage of the population can sustain more than a few months duty without sustaining long-term mental damage?

4. What famous study is cited at the beginning of Chapter 1?

5. According to Grossman in Chapter 8, what varies widely regarding those who recover from mental trauma after killing in combat?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the primary components of Exhaustion as outlined in Chapter 3?

2. What societal and moral tenets cause guilt in an individual who has killed in a war?

3. What is the silent conspiracy does Grossman discuss in Chapter 4?

4. What factors contribute to group absolution?

5. According to Grossman in Chapter 4, how do soldiers deal with guilt and horror in combat?

6. How is the dissuasive potential of familiarity discussed in Chapter 4?

7. How does Grossman use his distance-guilt corollary to explain the oppression of the poor in Chapter 1?

8. At the beginning of the book, what personal prejudices does Grossman admit to?

9. How was the Roman centurion model more effective than the Greek phalanx, according to Grossman?

10. What inefficiency of edged-weapon combat does Grossman reveal in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A major subject and tonal shift occurs in the last third of ON KILLING when Dave Grossman turns his attention away from the military and toward civilian life. Write an essay about Grossman's opinions about modern American culture. How is the culture conditioning young people to be violent? How have traditional defenses against this deteriorated? What evidence does the author use to argue his points?

Essay Topic 2

At one point in ON KILLING, Grossman discusses the three external concerns that affect a combatant's choice to kill. Write an essay analyzing these three concerns. W hat is the essence of each factor? What gives it its power over the potential killer? How effective is it in catalyzing the killing and in mitigating the guilt that follows? Cite an example of this type of factor that is used in the book.

Part 1) Voice of Authority

Part 2) Group Absolution

Part 3) Attractiveness of the Target

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, Grossman has argues that conditioning has been the key to increasing shooting rates in combat zones. It bypasses the conscious mind's inclination to avoid killing. Write a three-part essay analyzing the types of conditioning used in a military context:

Part 1) What is standard conditioning, and how is it connected to Pavlov's work with dogs? How does this type of conditioning manifest itself in military training? What specific defenses is it trying to overcome? What is its goal?

Part 2) What is operant conditioning, and how is it connected to Skinner's work with rats? To what extent is military operant training more subtly employed than traditional conditioning? How does this conditioning alter soldier behavior in chaotic combat?

Part 3) In military emulation of a role model, who is the standard soldier's role model? What does this role model represent to the soldier, and how does he wish to emulate him? What aspects of aggression and manhood does this affect?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,112 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample