Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War, Revised and Expanded Edition

by Michael D. Matthews

Psychology is the science that will determine who wins and who loses the wars of the 21st century, just as physics ultimately led the United States to victory in World War II. Changes in the world's political landscape coupled with radical advances in the technology of war will greatly alter how militaries are formed, trained, and led. Leadership under fire--and the traits and skills it requires--is also changing. Grant, Lee, Pershing, Patton--these generals would not succeed in 21st century conflicts.

In Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War, Michael D. Matthews explores the many ways that psychology will make the difference for wars yet to come, from revolutionary advances in soldier selection and training to new ways of preparing soldiers to remain resilient in the face of horror and to engineering the super-soldier of the future. These advancements will ripple out to impact on the lives of all of us, not just soldiers. Amputees will have "intelligent" life-like prosthetics that simulate the feel and function of a real limb. Those exposed to trauma will have new and more effective remedies to prevent or treat post-traumatic stress disorder. And a revolution in training--based heavily in the military's increasing reliance on immersive simulations--will radically alter how police, fire, and first-responder personnel are trained in the future.

The revised and expanded edition of Head Strong includes significant advances that have occurred in military psychology since its publication in 2013. Many of the predictions made in the first edition have come true, and exciting new developments in military psychology have emerged. The revised and expanded edition updates the existing chapters with important new developments, and adds new chapters on character and human performance optimization--both topics of significant interest in today's military. Authored by a West Point military psychologist, this book is one of the first to expose us to the smarter wars, and the world around them, to come.

358 pages, Hardcover

Published March 6, 2020

About the author

Dr. Michael D. Matthews, is currently Professor of Engineering Psychology at the United States Military Academy. He served as President of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Military Psychology from 2007 to 2008 and is a Templeton Foundation Senior Positive Psychology Fellow. From 2014 to 2015, he served as a Fellow for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff’s Strategic Studies Group. Collectively, his research interests center on Soldier performance in combat and other dangerous contexts. He has authored over 250 scientific papers, is the co-editor of Leadership in Dangerous Situations: A Handbook for Armed Forces, Emergency Services, and First Responders (Naval Institute Press, 2011) the Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology (Oxford University Press, 2012), and (in collaboration with co-editors David E. Rohall and Morten G. Ender), Inclusion in the American Military: A Force for Diversity, published by Lexington Books (2017). He is a co-author of The Millennial Generation and National Defense: Attitudes of Future Military and Civilian Leaders (Palgrave Pivot, 2013), and the author of the highly acclaimed Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War (Oxford University Press, revised and expanded edition, April 2020). His most recent co-edited book, Human Performance Optimization: The Science and Ethics of Enhancing Human Capabilities (Oxford University Press) was published in January 2019. His forthcoming book, coauthored with Lt. General Robert L. Caslen, Jr. (Ret.), is The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity (St. Martin's Press, October 2020).