Tel Aviv University
The Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences
The School of Psychological Sciences
Victims, perpetrators and what goes on between them
1071496301
Dr. Nurit Shnabel
Course description: The course examines different features of the psychological dynamics of transgressions, victimhood, perpetration, and the relations between victims and perpetrators. The first part of the course examines basic processes in moral judgment, such as people's tendency to perceive the social world in terms of "good" and "evil" and to view "victims" and "perpetrators" as dichotomous, mutually exclusive social roles. This part of the course also examines basic concepts related to people's responses to transgressions including respect, honor, forgiveness and revenge. The second part of the course focuses on applied social psychological research such as interventions intended to promote intergroup reconciliation following the Rwandan genocide or an analysis of the psychological processes involved in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Course requirements include class attendance and participation, presentation of a paper in class, and submission of a theoretical or empirical research proposal at the end of the course.
Course Program:
Class 1Moral judgment: Basic Processes and the social intuitionist model
Class 2The myth of pure evil
Class 3Evolutionary perspectives on morality
Class 4Respect and honor
Class 5Revenge and forgiveness
Class 6Competitive victimhood
Class 7Peace psychology
Class 8The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa; watching parts of the movie Long Night's Journey Into Day
Class 9Social Psychological interventions for the reduction of prejudice and promotion of reconciliation in Rwanda
Class 10 Reconciliation within families and in contexts of interpersonal relations
Class 11Reconciliation and the resolution of conflicts within organizations
Class 12Helping as a tool for the promotion of reconciliation
Class 13Discussing students' research proposals
Class 14Conclusion and summary
Reading:
Mandatory reading is indicated in bold. Extended (but useful!) reading appears in regular font. For class presentations students can pick one of the articles below or any other social psychological article hinging on the topics discussed in class (pending the instructor's approval).
1.Haidt, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology.Science, 316, 998-1002.
2.Gray, K., & Wegner, D. M. (2009). Moral typecasting: Divergent perceptions of moral agents and moral patients. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 505-520.
3.de Waal, F. B. M. (2007). Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 279-300.
de Waal, F. B. M. (2006). Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved, S. Macedo & J. Ober (Eds.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
4.Janoff-Bulman, R., & Werther, A. (2008). The social psychology of respect: Implications for delegitimization and reconciliation. In A. Nadler, T. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Inter-Group Reconciliation, pp 145-170. NY: Oxford University Press.
Cohen, D., Hoshino-Browne, E., & Leung, A. K-y. (2007). Culture and the structure of personal experience: Insider and outsider phenomenologies of the self and social world. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 39, pp. 1-67). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
De Cremer, D., & Tyler, T.R. (2005). Am I respected or not? Inclusion and reputation as issues in group membership. Social Justice Research, 18, 121-153.
5.McCullough, M. E., Kurzban, R., &Tabak, B. A. (2010). Evolved mechanisms for revenge and forgiveness. In P. R. Shaver and M. Mikulincer (eds.),Understanding and reducing aggression, violence, and their consequences(pp. 221-239). Washington, DC: American Psychological.
Maio, G. R., Thomas, G., Fincham, F. D., & Carnelley, K. (2008). Unraveling the role of forgiveness in family relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 307-319.
6.Noor, M., Shnabel, N., Halabi, S., & Nadler, A. (in press). When suffering begets suffering: The Psychology of competitive victimhood between adversarial groups in violent conflicts. Personality and Social Psychology Review.
Bar-Tal, D. (2007). Sociopsychological foundations of intractable conflicts. American Behavioral Scientist, 50, 1430–1453.
7.Christie, D. J., Tint, B. S., Wagner, R. V., & DuNann Winter, D. (2008). Peace psychology for a peaceful world. American Psychologist, 63, 540-552.
Galtung, J. (2010). The TRANSCEND method in conflict mediation across levels: Conflict literacy and competence as an approach to peace. European Psychologist, 15, 82-90.
Kempf, W. (2003). Constructive Conflict Coverage. A Social Psychological Research and development program. Conflict and Communication Online, 2, 1-13. Retrieved from
8.Gobodo-Madikizela, P. (2008). Transforming trauma in the aftermath of gross human rights abuses: Making public spaces intimate through the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In A. Nadler, T. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), Social psychology of inter-group reconciliation (pp. 57–76). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Volkan, V. (2001). Trans-generational transmissions and chosen traumas: An aspect of large-group identity. Group Analysis, 34, 79-97.
9.Paluck, E.L. (2010). Is it better not to talk? Group polarization, extended contact, and perspective taking in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1170-1185.
Staub, E., Pearlman, L. A., Gubin, A., & Hagengimana, A. (2005). Healing, reconciliation, forgiving and the prevention of violence after genocide or mass killing: An intervention and its experimental evaluation in Rwanda. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 297-335.
10.Rusbult, C.E., & van Lange, P.A.M. (2003). Interdependence, interaction and relationships. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 351-375.
Hoyt, W. T., Fincham, F., McCullough, M. E., Maio, G., & Davila, J. (2005). Responses to interpersonal transgressions in families: Forgivingness, forgivability, and relationship-specific effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 375–394.
11.Nadler, A., Halabi, H., & Harpaz-Gorodeisky, G. (2008). Intergroup helping as status-organizing processes: implications for intergroup misunderstanding. In S. Demoulin, J.P. Leyens, & J. F. Dovidio (Eds.), Intergroup misunderstanding: Impact of divergent social realities (pp. 313–327). Washington, DC: Psychology Press.