My Lai Massacre Psychological Analysis

On March 16th, 1968, an act of obedience resulted in a massacre on the people of My Lai. The men of Charlie Company arrived in Vietnam in December of 1967 with the average age of their company being only 20 years young. These soldiers had no prior combat experience, but had performed well within training and had become known as the best company in their battalion. It was these men who arrived in My Lai on that March day – with orders to kill. It was not only actions on this day that lead to the eventual massacre, but factors played into thee soldiers’ training and experiences leading up to the massacre as well. With a mindset reflecting social psychology, one is able to comprehend how obedience can explain the massacre that occurred My Lai on March 16th, 1968 with the use of four factors;

Social psychology shows when uncertainty and ambiguity are present within a situation, it begins to influence obedience by lowering one’s confidence. When one’s confidence is lowered, they begin to look towards the authority figure present for interpretation of the situation at hand, which leads to obedience (Nelson, class lecture, 2017). The factor of uncertainty was prevalent within the My Lai Massacre whether regarding the company’s training, the moments leading up to the massacre, or the massacre itself. In regards to the soldier’s training, the men were trained to “kill” – yet it was never blatantly said who or what they would be killing (Remember My Lai, 1989). This allowed for a certain amount of uncertainty within their training, which in turn allotted for obedience from the soldiers. Another aspect present relates to the moments leading up to the morning spent in My Lai. The orders Charlie Company received for their briefing were unclear and in fact, no written orders were