Reaction to Torture in Physical and Psychological Situations - Essay Example

Reaction to TortureThe use of torture is illegal in some countries. Policy makers are responsible for determining the legal definition of torture. Their definition has its basis on pain severity. However, there is an evident discrepancy between the definition of torture and the parameters used in determining the severity of pain on someone’s body. Notably, people who have not experienced pain are likely to underestimate such pain. On the contrary, people who have experienced pain, even in its mild form have a strong opinion against torture.

The hot-cold empathy gap is the existing gap between the views of people who have experienced pain and those of people who have not experienced such pain. Psychological researchers have highlighted that the empathy gap also exists in the definition of psychological pain. Different countries have adopted various interrogation tactics that induce a measure of pain in people. Assessment of the ethical relevance of the different interrogation tactics by people who have experienced the pain differs from the assessment done by people who have not experienced the pain.

The study sought to demonstrate that people’s judgments on whether different interrogation tactics make use of torture depend on the empathy gap (Nordgren, McDonnell, & Loewenstein, 2011). The research comprised of four studies, with each having different result. In the first study, it emerged that participants exposed to a measure of social isolation opined that exposing prisoners to solitary confinement was a very severe measure. Such participants considered solitary confinement as unethical.

However, participants who did not experience any measure of social isolation did not view solitary confinement as unethical. In the second study, participants who filled in questionnaires after the class opined that sleep deprivation was highly painful and unethical. Since they were experiencing fatigue as they filled in the questionnaires, they considered sleep deprivation a severe form of pain. However, the group that filled in the questionnaires before the class considered sleep deprivation less painful.

In the third study, some of the participants faced exposure to cold temperatures. Due to their experience, they described the exposure to cold temperatures as a torturous interrogation tactic. In the fourth study, participants placed under the non-pain conditions underestimated the severity of pain associated with standing in the cold (Nordgren, McDonnell, & Loewenstein, 2011). The participants who experienced the coldest whether described it as torture, and they were against this interrogation tactic.

From the findings of the four studies, it emerges that empathy gaps are existent in both physical and psychological situations. It is impossible for people who have not experienced pain to evaluate the severity of pain in a given situation correctly. However, the people who experience pain can give a detailed description and accurate assessment of the severity of pain in that situation. Many interrogation tactics make use of torture. Policy makers are yet to experience the kind of pain inflicted on individuals during such interrogation tactics.

Only individuals exposed to such interrogation tactics can describe the severity of pain (McDonnell, 2011). For this reason, people who have not experienced the pain inflicted by such interrogation tactics consider them as ethical. However, people who have faced painful conditions brought forth by the interrogation tactics consider them as highly unethical.ReferencesMcDonnell, M. M. (2011). Torture in the Eyes of the Beholder: The Psychological Difficulty of Defining Torture in Law and Policy.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 4487.Nordgren, L. F., McDonnell, M. M., & Loewenstein, G. (2011). What Constitutes Torture?: Psychological Impediments to an Objective Evaluation of Enhanced Interrogation Tactics. Psychological Science (Sage Publications Inc.), 22(5), 689-694.