The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others

610 Pages·2004·2.43 MB·English

by  Ervin Staub

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ThePsychologyofGoodandEvil
WhyChildren,Adults,andGroupsHelpandHarmOthers
Thisbookgatherstogethertheknowledgegainedinalifelongstudy
of the causes of goodness and evil. Since the 1960s Ervin Staub
has studied the roots of helpful, caring, generous, and altruistic
behavior in adults and their development in children, as well as
passivity in response to others’ need. He has also studied bully-
ing and victimization in schools, as well as youth violence and
its prevention. He spent many years studying the origins (and
prevention) of human destructiveness, genocide, and mass killing,
andhehasexaminedtheHolocaust,thegenocideoftheArmenians,
thedisappearancesinArgentina,thegenocideinRwanda,andother
instances. He has applied his work in many real-world settings, in
seminars, workshops, lectures, and in consultations with parents
and teachers, police officers, and political leaders. He has appeared
frequentlyinthemedia,sinceSeptember11especially,toexplainthe
causesandpreventionofterrorism.ProfessorStaubhaspublished,in
additiontobooks,manyarticlesandbookchaptersonthesetopics.
Aselectionfromtheseisgathered,withnewwritingsadded,inThe
Psychology of Good and Evil. The book presents a broad panorama
of the roots of violence and caring and suggests how we can create
societiesandaworldthatarecaring,peaceful,andharmonious.Two
oftheimportantthemesofthebookarehowbothevilandgoodness
evolve,stepbystep,andthegreatpowerofbystanders.
Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. He was born in Hungary, and received
his B.A. and his Ph.D. (Stanford University, 1965) in the United
States. He has taught at Harvard University, Stanford University,
theUniversityofHawaii,andtheLondonSchoolofEconomicsand
Political Science. He is a Fellow of four divisions of the American
Psychological Association and was President of the Society for
the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (as well as recipient of
its Lifetime Contribution to Peace Psychology award), and of the
InternationalSocietyforPoliticalPsychology.ProfessorStaubapplies
hisworktothepromotionofcaring,helping,“activebystandership,”
and the prevention of violence through media appearances, work
with organizations and schools, and working on healing and
reconciliationinconflictsettingssuchasRwanda.
OtherbooksbyErvinStaub:
PositiveSocialBehaviorandMorality:Vol.1.PersonalandSocial
Influences
PositiveSocialBehaviorandMorality:Vol.2.Socializationand
Development
Personality:BasicAspectsandCurrentResearch(editor)
TheDevelopmentandMaintenanceofProsocialBehavior:International
PerspectivesonPositiveMorality(coeditor)
TheRootsofEvil:TheOriginsofGenocideandOtherGroupViolence
SocialandMoralValues:IndividualandSocietalPerspectives(coeditor)
PatriotismintheLivesofIndividualsandNations(coeditor)
The Psychology of Good and Evil
Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help
and Harm Others
ERVIN STAUB
UniversityofMassachusetts,Amherst
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521821285
© Cambridge University Press 2003
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2003
- 
isbn-13 978-0-511-07031-0 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-10 0-511-07031-4 eBook (EBL)
- 
isbn-13 978-0-521-82128-5 hardback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-82128-2 hardback
isbn--13 978-0-521-52880-1 paperback
- 
isbn-10 0-521-52880-1 paperback
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ToMacsandtoall“activebystanders”

Contents
Preface pagexi
Acknowledgments xv
part i. introduction and core concepts
1 GoodandEvil:ThemesandOverview 3
2 StudyingthePivotalRoleofBystanders 26
DanielGoleman
3 StudyingandPromotingAltruismandStudyingand
WorkingtoPreventGenocide:TheGuidingRoleof
EarlySurvival 31
4 IsEvilaUsefulConceptforPsychologistsand
Others? 47
5 BasicHumanNeedsandTheirRoleinAltruism
andAggression 52
part ii. the roots of helping other people in need
in contrast to passivity
6 HelpingaDistressedPerson:Social,Personality,and
StimulusDeterminants 71
7 Spontaneous(orImpulsive)Helping 100
8 SocialandProsocialBehavior:PersonalandSituational
InfluencesandTheirInteractions 103
9 The Power to Help Others: Report on a Psychology Today
SurveyonValues,Helping,andWell-Being 145
vii
viii Contents
part iii. how children become caring and helpful
rather than hostile and aggressive
Part1. Socialization,Culture,andChildren’sExperience
10 TheOriginsofCaring,Helping,andNonaggression:Parental
Socialization,theFamilySystem,andCulturalInfluence 159
11 NaturalSocialization:TheRoleofExperienceorLearning
byDoing 173
12 TheOriginsofHostilityandAggression 199
13 Cultural–SocietalRootsofViolence:YouthViolence 212
14 BystandersandBullying 224
15 Students’ExperienceofBullyingandOtherAspects
ofTheirLivesinMiddleSchoolinBelchertown:
ReportSummary 227
ErvinStaubandDarrenA.Spielman
16 PassiveandActiveBystandershipacrossGradesin
ResponsetoStudentsBullyingOtherStudents 240
ErvinStaub,D.Fellner,Jr.,J.Berry,andK.Morange
17 Self-EsteemandAggression 244
18 Father–DaughterIncest 248
Part2. InterventionstoReduceAggressionandPromoteCaring
andHelping
19 ReducingBoys’Aggression:LearningtoFulfillBasic
NeedsConstructively 252
DarrenA.SpielmanandErvinStaub
20 CreatingCaringSchools:DesignandContentofa
ProgramtoDevelopCaring,Helping,Positive
Self-Esteem,andNonviolence 267
part iv. the origins of genocide, mass killing, and
other collective violence
21 ANoteontheCultural–SocietalRootsofViolence 289
22 ThePsychologyofBystanders,Perpetrators,andHeroic
Helpers 291
23 StepsAlongaContinuumofDestruction:Perpetrators
andBystanders 325
24 TheSSandthePsychologyofPerpetrators:The
InterweavingandMergingofRoleandPerson 336
25 TheOriginsofGenocide:Rwanda 341
26 BystandersasEvil:TheExampleofRwanda 346