ABSTRACT
Fear of nuclear war is correlated with fears of other technological hazards, and these seem as unlikely to disappear of their own accord as the radioactive waste products from nuclear weapons production. Teenagers’ worries about nuclear war covaried with concerns about the environment and getting cancer, rather than with fears about parents dying or personal injury or death. The implications of using words such as “resistance” or “numbing” are that lack of worry about nuclear war should be associated with poor mental health. As in the case of theory and research on the responses of the general public to the threat of nuclear war opposing perspectives in the literature on decision makers’ responses to threat. The totality of evidence supports the operation of some unconscious defensive processes with respect to fear of nuclear war. The notion of unconscious defenses has been a major source of confusion and controversy in psychology.
