Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate? Not necessarily.
Are Emotions the Path to the Dark Side?
This is the question that Gert-Jan Lelieveld & Welmer E. Molenmaker take on in their chapter in Star Wars and Conflict Resolution. The two, social and organizational pyschologists, note the role emotions play in all of the key relationships and twists in the Star Wars saga.
Consider your Star Wars associations with the following words: Compassion. Anger. Attachment. Jealousy. Fear. Calm. Peace.
Emotions are ingrained in conflict. Within the Star Wars universe, we see happiness when the Rebels destroy the Death Star, pride when Anakin wins the pod race, fear any time C-3PO opens his mouth, hope when Leia sends her message to Obi-Wan, and anger when Kylo Ren cannot defeat Luke. In each of these situations, emotions guide people’s response to conflict and directs their conflict behavior.
Emotions can be divided into four different categories. The first arise from positive experiences, such as happiness, contentment, and hope. The second is related to a decreased sense of self-importance and to concern for others, such as compassion and gratitude. The third type is feelings that occur when a situation’s outcomes deviate negatively from expectations (every time Luke Skywalker’s cautionary “This is not going to go the way you think” comes true), such as sadness and disappointment. The final category of emotions arises from experiencing a threat to our wellbeing (and by extension, the wellbeing of those we love), such as fear and anger.
The saga focuses most sharply on the final category. Yoda can’t say “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering” often enough! Revenge of the Sith centers on see Anakin experiencing a threat to his loved ones’ wellbeing and acting out of fear. He translates this fear into anger, enough anger to propel him to kill the younglings in the Jedi Temple and duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar even though he had the high ground. His anger led to suffering, enough suffering to fill the galaxy.
Lelievent and Molenmaker point out that while Yoda might be the number one authority on the Force, research on psychology - well, human psychology, in our galaxy - shows that anger doesn’t necessarily lead to hate. In fact, it can sometimes motivate people toward the right actions. Even in the movies, we can identify anger propellling Obi-Wan as he defeats Darth Maul; Luke channeling anger to fight Darth Vader on the Death Star,, and Rey harnessing her anger in order to fight Kylo Ren. This shows that anger does not always propel one to the dark side.
What improved advice might Jedi Masters give their Padawans on engaging their emotions, and particularly, channeling emotions from the dark side? Read the full chapter in Star Wars and Conflict Resolution.
— Written by Elizabeth Mayans, SW&CR Padawan and 2L student at the University of Oregon School of Law
