No one has launched a nuclear weapon in war since 1945, when U.S. president Harry S. Truman bombed Japan. Support for that decision—the only use of atomic arms in a conflict—has decreased over time. But new research investigating the attitudes of Americans suggests that, in the right scenario, plenty of people would support another atomic assault .

Most U.S. residents have no sway over such a cataclysmic decision. But the psychological factors that tweak our brains are the same ones at play in the minds of presidents and the people who are in charge of those megadeath decisions.

By gaining insight into the minds of the population, these studies illuminate the factors that might affect a leader’s choice to conduct a nuclear strike —and ways to make that choice less likely.

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