The dark side of the force (psychological)

The Star Wars saga has become living history. With more or less acceptance, the launch of each film has been a great event. And this great little universe has the support of millions of fans who, surely, would like to find strength and become, over time, Jedis. But, As in life itself, not everyone accepts the light and some end up turning to the dark side..

In our reality, Going to the dark side can be understood as the equivalent of becoming radicalized and, since radicalization is a group process, social psychology has a lot to say about accepting the dark side of the force. A particular case that we can find in the saga is that of Anakin Skywalker. Contrary to popular opinion, those who go to the dark side do not have less education, nor do they have fewer resources, and much less do they suffer from mental problems, as in reality. Going to the dark side involves a combination of factors that are explained below.

The need to be important

Performing an action requires there to be motivation towards a goal. The main thing is that a need arises and we set ourselves an objective that can satisfy said need. Then the motivation will appear that will lead to action. In the case of the dark force, the goal is importance. The motivation to be someone important, to make a difference, to be “someone.”

This importance-seeking motivation can be aroused in three different ways. One of them is through loss of importance. Humiliation, such as the one Anakin Skywalker felt as a slave, when the Jedi rejected him or when he learned of the murder of his mother, is an important factor when it comes to awakening the search for importance since these are moments in which it occurs. an awareness of the loss of it.

Another way to awaken the search for importance is the perception that there is a threat to importance. Kylo Ren, as the last film in the saga shows, understands that Luke Skywalker is a threat. From Kylo Ren’s point of view, Luke wanted to prevent him from becoming a Jedi and gaining importance.

The last is before the opportunity to gain importance. When the opportunity to gain importance presents itself, the search motivation is awakened. One case is found in Senator Palpatin, also known as Darth Sidious, who murdered his father to become Supreme Chancellor while also becoming the dark lord of the Sith.

What the sith tell us

However, the need to be important is not going to lead to the dark side. Once motivation is awakened, our attention will be directed towards the middle to achieve importance. To the question “how do I make myself important/more important?” The ideology, the narrative, will respond. While the Jedi do not encourage violence as a means of achieving importance, the Sith do.

Darth Sidious said that Darth Plagueis was so powerful that he could create life and even prevent the beings he cared about from dying. But how to get it? Using violence. With their speech, the Sith order promotes the use of violence as the only means to become important. As Darth Vader said: “You underestimate the power of the dark side, if you don’t fight… you will meet your destiny.”

Bad company on the dark side

Finally, there is a missing factor that unites motivation with ideology. This resides in the group. You can only be important in the eyes of others, so you need a group that accepts you and makes you feel important. Furthermore, as we mentioned previously, that group must have an ideology that encourages violence. In the world of Star Wars it is easy to identify that group as the order of the sith.

The siths offer to become someone very important. They offer unimaginable power, that of the dark side of the force. Once within their group, social pressure will lead people to end up merging their personality with the Sith identity. As the blind monk Chirrut Îmwe said: “I am one with the force and the force is with me.” Belonging to the group of the Jedi or the Sith implies part of something bigger, the only difference will be the narrative of the group, whether it is peaceful, like that of the Jedi, or whether it supports violence, like that of the Sith.

On the dark side there are also emotions

Lastly, emotions also play their role in the process that leads people to the dark side. The dark side of the force is closely related to negative emotions. Master Yoda explains it to us in this phrase: “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hatred, hatred leads to suffering and suffering to the dark side.” Although the relationship between emotions is not lacking in coherence, the ANCODI hypothesis tells us that the emotions that Yoda mentions are not correct.

For a person to choose the dark side, it is more feasible for a combination of three emotions to occur, rather than a succession of them. In this way, the first emotion that would appear would be the anger that would arise from the injustice and would be directed towards whoever was considered the culprit. Anger would lead to contempt, denial and humiliation of the other. Finally, disgust would appear, which would lead to the dark side, which implies that the solution is to eliminate the other.

As has been seen, to reach the dark side we do not have to follow a path that little by little turns us into radicals. To accept the dark side of the force, a combination of factors must occur. As if it were a puzzle, by the time the last piece is placed we have already accepted the dark side of the force. As we assume that Master Yoda would say: psychology is a powerful force, be careful with its dark side. And the mind, like psychology, is wonderful.

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