Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the HolocaustLeonard S. Newman, Ralph Erber When and why do groups target each other for extermination? How do seemingly normal people become participants in genocide? Why do some individuals come to the rescue of members of targeted groups, while others just passively observe their victimization? And how do perpetrators and bystanders later come to terms with the choices that they made? These questions have long vexed scholars and laypeople alike, and they have not decreased in urgency as we enter the twenty-first century. In this book--the first collection of essays representing social psychological perspectives on genocide and the Holocaust-- prominent social psychologists use the principles derived from contemporary research in their field to try to shed light on the behavior of the perpetrators of genocide. The primary focus of this volume is on the Holocaust, but the conclusions reached have relevance for attempts to understand any episode of mass killing. Among the topics covered are how crises and difficult life conditions might set the stage for violent intergroup conflict; why some groups are more likely than others to be selected as scapegoats; how certain cultural values and beliefs could facilitate the initiation of genocide; the roles of conformity and obedience to authority in shaping behavior; how engaging in violent behavior makes it easier to for one to aggress again; the evidence for a "genocide-prone" personality; and how perpetrators deceive themselves about what they have done. The book does not culminate in a grand theory of intergroup violence; instead, it seeks to provide the reader with new ways of making sense of the horrors of genocide. In other words, the goal of all of the contributors is to provide us with at least some of the knowledge that we will need to anticipate and prevent future such tragic episodes. |
Contents
The Psychology of Bystanders Perpetrators | 11 |
What Is a SocialPsychological Account | 53 |
Some Cognitive | 68 |
Examining the Implications of Cultural Frames | 162 |
Preconditions for the Holocaust | 188 |
The Zoomorphism of Human Collective Violence | 222 |
The Holocaust and the Four Roots of Evil | 241 |
Examining Hitler From | 259 |
Lying SelfDeception | 285 |
Does Social Psychology | 301 |
Social Psychologists Confront the Holocaust | 325 |
347 | |
355 | |
Other editions - View all
Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust Leonard S. Newman,Ralph Erber Limited preview - 2002 |
Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust Leonard S. Newman,Ralph Erber Limited preview - 2002 |
Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust Leonard S. Newman,Ralph Erber Limited preview - 2002 |
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actions aggression American analysis anti-Semitism Arendt argue Aryan attitudes attribution authoritarian personality authority Baumeister beliefs bystanders camps cause cognitive collectivism collectivistic conflict cultural frame democidal difficult life conditions economic Eichmann ethnic evil example experimental extermination factors feel focus frustration genocide German goals Goldhagen Hilberg Hitler Holocaust Holocaust perpetrators human identity ideology important individualistic individuals influence instigators intergroup Jewish Jews Journal of Personality leaders loss of control mass killing Mein Kampf Milgram Miller moral motivated murder nation Nazi Nazi Germany Nazism needs norms one's out-group Oyserman participants perceived perception Personality and Social perspective political positive prejudice processes rescuers response role Rwanda salient scapegoat scapegoating self-esteem shared situation social movements Social Psychology social representations social-psychological explanations society Stanley Milgram Staub stereotypes Suedfeld Tajfel target terror management theory theory threat tion Tutsis understanding University Press values victims Weimar Weimar Republic York Zimbardo
Popular passages
Page 299 - In certain circumstances it is not so much the kind of person a man is, as the kind of situation in which he is placed, that determines his actions.