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Evil, terrorism, torture, and other bad stuff

Evil, terrorism, torture, and other bad stuff. Bandura : moral disengagement Zimbardo : intentionally behaving or causing others to act in ways that demean, dehumanize, harm, destroy, or kill innocent people

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Evil, terrorism, torture, and other bad stuff

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  1. Evil, terrorism, torture, and other bad stuff

  2. Bandura: moral disengagement Zimbardo: intentionally behaving or causing others to act in ways that demean, dehumanize, harm, destroy, or kill innocent people Staub: intensely harmful actions, which are not commensurate with instigating conditions and the persistence or repetition of such acts Baumeister: threatened egotism Buss: causing reproductive harm to other and especially to those close to us What is “evil”?

  3. Person vs. situation In the eye of the beholder How can it be studied? Zeitgeist To what extent is it

  4. Moral justification Palliative comparison Euphemistic labeling Displacement and diffusion of responsibility Minimizing, ignoring, or misconstruing the consequences Dehumanization, attribution of blame Examples? “Normal” examples? Bandura, 2004

  5. Change perception of conduct Change sense of consequences Change feelings of responsibility Change one’s view of victim Bandura model

  6. Anonymity* Reduce concerns about self-evaluation* Obligation/roles* Semantics Propaganda, education* Give justification Small steps* Diffusion of responsibility Make it hard to leave* Zimbardo, 2004

  7. How do we use these in the military? Other examples of education? Terror alerts What are the implications of the situational view? Is evil seen differently in collectivist countries?

  8. Could anyone commit these acts? Are the people responsible for what they did? How are psychologists involved in torture/terror? Is that okay? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msTAFlUJl54

  9. What are the four “roots of evil”? Are they causes or justifications? What is the victim/perp gap? How do they explain sadism? Baumeister & Butz, 2006

  10. Suicide bomber Torturer Terrorist Cult member School shooter How to make a

  11. Politically motivated violence perpetrated by individuals, groups, or state sponsored agents (?) intended to instill feelings of terror and helplessness in a population to influence decision making and change behavior Terrorism

  12. What is staircase metaphor? • Floor 1: perceptions of fairness, procedural justice • Contextualized democracy (Arab spring) • Floor 2: displacement of aggression • Floor 3: moral disengagement • Floor 4: categorical thinking, legitimacy of org* • Floor 5: distance from outgroup, act Moghaddam, 2005

  13. How does religious fundamentalism have an effect on both sides? Is he only talking about Arabs? “they can’t exit alive”

  14. Methodology issues? • Groups chosen • Objectivity • Unit of analysis • Western-centric? • Are documents and internet a good way to study these? (advantages/disadvantages) • What is the historiometric approach? • Are there ethical concerns? Saucier et al., 2009 & Angie et al., 2011

  15. What do ideological groups, cults, terrorist groups, etc. provide for people? Are there differences between “good” and “bad” ones? How does CMC differ from FTF in terms of terrorism, etc.?

  16. Religious content* Social identity formation Self-expression opps* Moral engagement Ethnic out-grouping* Dehumanization Moral superiority Angie et al., 2011

  17. Necessity of extreme measures Absolve responsibility Use of military terminology* Perception that group is being held back Glorifying the past of one’s group* Utopianizing Catastrophizing Supernatural assumptions* Themes from saucier et al.

  18. Feel need to purify world from evil* Glorification of dying for the cause Duty to kill Use of immoral acts okay to get to goals Seeing intolerance, vengeance, and war as good Dehumanization Modern world = bad* Civil government as illegitimate

  19. Are these also present in more tame politics? Global warming? Are there other important factors the authors haven’t mentioned?

  20. Empathy (Bandura) Humanization, stop us/them thinking (Bandura, Moghaddam) Better the lives of those in other countries (Bandura, Zimbardo, Moghaddam) Use only “just war”; Promote justice (Bandura. Moghaddam) Better negotiation, talk to other side (Zimbardo, Moghaddam) Ways to decrease/prevent evil/terrorism

  21. Have young people share (Zimbardo) Contextualized democracy (get women involved; Moghaddam) Encourage opposite thinking (Saucier et al.) Show people that crisis isn’t so bad, mission not sacred, violations of values exaggerated (Saucier et al.)

  22. Which of these are practical? Most likely to succeed? Are there other methods not mentioned? Why are these and not those mentioned?

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