Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!princeton!pucc!PSYCH@TCSVM From: harnad@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Stevan Harnad) Newsgroups: sci.psychology.digest Subject: PSYCOLOQUY V2 #1 (gulf crisis : 70 lines) Message-ID: <9101040501.AA10934@reason.Princeton.EDU> Date: 3 Jan 91 23:43:38 GMT Sender: VMNNPOST@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Listserv to Netnews Gateway) Organization: Listserv to Netnews Gateway at pucc.Princeton.EDU Lines: 65 Approved: PSYCH@TCSVM PSYCOLOQUY Thu, 3 Jan 91 Volume 2 : Issue 1 APA Press Release on Persian Gulf Crisis ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Cheri Fullerton Subject: Staub Release on Persian Gulf Crisis Contact: Leslie Harless American Psychological Association Public Affairs Office (202) 955-7710 GROUP VIOLENCE EXPERT SAYS PERSIAN GULF CRISIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED United States' Role as Bystander Is Criticized WASHINGTON -- The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait could have been avoided had the U. S. acted in a principled and consistent manner in its role as bystander, according to psychologist Ervin Staub, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, an expert on the origins and psychology of war and group aggression. Dr. Staub made his comments during the American Psychological Association's (APA) Scientific Psychology Forum in Washington, DC, on December 10, 1990. Calling the United States' role as bystander "tragic," Dr. Staub criticized the U.S. and the rest of the international community for encouraging Saddam Hussein's aggressive behavior by failing to condemn his killing of his own Kurdish population and supporting his invasion of Iran. He noted that not only did the U.S. fail to send any negative signals to Saddam Hussein, but clearly affirmed his actions by giving him weapons and other forms of support. "If the U.S. and other nations had started to express disapproval and concern when Saddam Hussein started killing his own internal enemies, if nations had not rushed to his aid when he invaded Iran, Iraq would not have invaded Kuwait because it would have been clear that this action would not be tolerated," according to Dr. Staub. He asserted that the United States destroyed the option of creating a peaceful resolution to the Persian Gulf conflict by its haste toward going to war. Dr. Staub's theory on the evolution of harmdoing traces the steps along what he calls a "continuum of destruction" and is based on evidence from the behavioral sciences. In his most recent book, The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence, he sketches a conceptual framework for the many psychological, cultural and societal influences on one group's desire to harm another. His theory emphasizes the importance of bystanders who, by their words and actions, can exert powerful influence on progress along the "continuum of destruction." Dr. Staub's comments do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the American Psychological Association. The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 102,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 46 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 55 state and Canadian provincial psychological associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare. End of PSYCOLOQUY Digest ******************************