Psychic Costs

A psychic cost is a subset of social costs that specifically represent the costs of added stress or losses to quality of life. In managerial economics and marketing, psychic costs "measure the stress of having to think about a transaction".

In The Psychic Cost of Segregation, a 1954 article by James W. Prothro and Charles U. Smith of Clark Atlanta University, the authors examined the impact of segregation on the personalities of black Americans. An example of the psychic cost is that some white people still feel fear of blacks, which can make it hard for black people to get jobs or apartments in white-dominated neighbourhoods. As well, for business owners with mainly black clientele, some white clients may not come into their restaurant or theater because of perceptions that it may not be safe.

Relevance to War

The after-affect of a war will most likely produce psychic costs. The trauma and shock accompanied with emotional anger are resultant elements that form part of psychic costs.

The proponents of war argue that psychic costs are irrelevant when compared with a nation's security issues. The proponents of anti-war make a counter-argument that national security is of no use when people of that nation are culturally impaired.

This part of the website engages an active debate on the topic:

"War is of no use when people of that nation are culturally impaired" 

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