Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

War-moods: I

  • Published:
Psychometrika Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A person can be openly friendly, or hostile, or war-weary. Depth-psychology has shown that the underlying mood is also important. In the present theory the independent variable is time, and the dependent variables are the numbers of persons in different warmoods in two opposing nations. The rate of conversion of persons from one mood to another is taken to be proportional both to the number of susceptible persons and to the number of influencing persons, as in Kermack and McKendrick's theory of epidemics of cholera (15). This formulation leads to a set of differential equations nearly but not quite like those whereby Volterra (41) described the interaction between predator and prey among fish. Here the constants are fitted to the history of the First World War. The gregarious motive to follow a fashion of either peace or war is formulated as an amendment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bernhardi, F. von. Germany and the next war. Trans. by Powles, A. H. London: Edward Arnold, 1914.

    Google Scholar 

  2. British Association for the Advancement of Science.Report of the Annual Meeting, 1938, 277–334.

  3. Buxton, Mrs. C. R. A weekly survey of the foreign press.Cambridge Magazine, Cambridge, England, 1915–1919.

  4. Calvert, E. R. Capital punishment in the twentieth century. London: Putnams, 1930.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Commonsense, a London periodical current during the first world war.

  6. Dumas, S. and Vedel-Petersen, K. O. Losses of life caused by war. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Encyclopaedia Britannica. New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1929, edition XIV.

  8. German, a. J'Accuse, trans. by Gray, A. New York and London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915.

  9. Glasgow Herald. Daily Newspaper, Glasgow, Britain.

  10. Graham, J. W. Conscription and conscience. London: Allen and Unwin, 1922.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hirst, F. W. The consequences of the war to Great Britain. Oxford: Univ. Press, 1934.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hitler, A. Mein Kampf, translated by Murphy, J. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1939.

  13. James, W. The varieties of religious experience. London: Longmans Green, 1902.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Keesing's Contemporary Archives, weekly periodical, Bristol, England.

  15. Kermack, W. O. and McKendrick, A. G. Mathematical theory of epidemics.Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 1927,115, 700–722.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kermack, W. O. and McKendrick, A. G. The solution of sets of simultaneous integral equations related to the equation of Volterra.Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., 1936,41, 462–482.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kruger, P. Memoirs. London: Fisher Unwin, 1902.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Lloyd George, D. War Memoirs. London: Odhams, 1938.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Matthew, Saint. Gospel, revised version. Oxford: Univ. Press, 1891.

    Google Scholar 

  20. McCarthy, J. A history of our own times. London: Chatto and Windus, 1892.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, A. The war and German society. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1937.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Mole, G. The ignition of explosive gases.Proc. Phys. Soc. Lond., 1936,48, 857–864.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Nernst, W. Theoretical chemistry. Trans. by Codd, L. W. London: Macmillan, 1923.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Parliamentary debates, official report (aliasHansard). London: H. M. Stationery Office.

  25. Pear, T. H. Peace, war and culture patterns.Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, 1948,31, 3–30.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Plato. Timaeus.

  27. Rashevsky, N. Mathematical theory of human relations. Bloomington, Indiana: Principia Press, 1947.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Richardson, L. F. Mathematical psychology of war. Oxford: Wm. Hunt, 1919. (A few copies remain with the author.)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Richardson, L. F. The behavior of an Osglim lamp.Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A. 1937,163, 380–390.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Richardson, L. F. Generalized foreign politics.British J. Psychol. Monog. Supplt. No. 23, 1939.

  31. Richardson, L. F. The number of nations on each side of a war.J. Roy. Statistical Soc., London, 1946,109, 130–156.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Richardson, L. F. Arms and insecurity, a microfilm, 35 mm. Kilmun, Argyll, Britain: from the author, $5, 1947.

  33. Semenoff, N. Chemical kinetics and chain reactions. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1935.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Soviet Union, official history of the communist party of the. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1939.

  35. Spillane, J. P. in The neuroses in war, edited by Miller, E. London: Macmillan, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Times, The. Daily newspaper, London.

  37. Trotter, W. Instincts of the herd in war and peace: London: Fisher Unwin, 1921.

    Google Scholar 

  38. U. D. C., a periodical. London: Union of Democratic Control.

  39. Vedel-Petersen, see Dumas.

  40. Volterra, V. Theory of functionals, edited by Fantippié, trans. by Long, M. Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1930.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Volterra, V. Leçons sur la théorie mathématique de la lutte pour la vie. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1931.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Wright, M. B. in The neuroses in war, edited by Miller, E. London: Macmillan, 1940.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hillside House, Kilmun, Argyll, Britain

    Lewis F. Richardson

Authors
  1. Lewis F. Richardson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Richardson, L.F. War-moods: I. Psychometrika 13, 147–174 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289258

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289258

Keywords

Search

Navigation