Moral reconstrual, not personality change, converts civilians into killers

Evidence

Rapid radical shifts in destructive behavior through moral justification are most strikingly revealed in the military. The conversion of socialized individuals into dedicated fighters is achieved not by altering their personalities, aggressive drives, or moral standards but by cognitively reconstruing the morality of killing so that soldiers can do it free from self-censure. In this new context of moral obligation, soldiers see themselves as fighting ruthless oppressors, protecting cherished values, honoring their country’s obligations, preserving world peace, and saving humanity from subjugation. With commitment to the justness of the cause, killing becomes an act of heroism. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 342

Categorization

• QUESTION: If soldiers’ conversion is purely cognitive reconstrual without personality change, does the same mechanism of ‘just-cause reframing’ explain ordinary citizens adopting punitive policy toward out-groups?
• XREF: Strong parallel to the vault’s claims on how ordinary people rationalize supporting exclusionary policy — same just-cause framing here makes killing heroic. — connects to: Sacralized scriptural precedent is invoked to authorize killing enemy civilians in the IDF — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 893; Genocide produces a moral reversal where killing itself becomes a duty. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 135
• ADDENDUM: This is the psychological mechanism underlying ‘On Sacrifice’ — soldiers reframe killing as protective/heroic duty, the same sanctification logic as ritualized violence.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 342