The Social Psychology of Good and Evil

This timely, accessible reference and text addresses some of the most fundamental questions about human behavior, such as what causes racism and prejudice and why good people do bad things. Leading authorities present state-of-the-science theoretical and empirical work. Essential themes include the complex interaction of individual, societal, and situational factors underpinning good or evil behavior; the role of moral emotions, unconscious bias, and the self-concept; issues of responsibility and motivation; and how technology and globalization have enabled newer forms of threat and harm.

New to This Edition
*Many new authors; extensively revised with the latest theory and research.
*Section on group perspectives, with chapters on bystanders to emergencies, remembering historical victimization, organizational dynamics, and globalization and terrorism.
*Chapters on free will, conscious versus unconscious processes, media violence, dehumanization, genocide, and sexual violence.
*Chapters on false moral superiority, compassionate goals in relationships, and moral emotions in incarcerated offenders.

Arthur G. Miller, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Dr. Miller’s research and publications have focused on stereotyping and stigma, biases in attribution and social judgment, and judgmental reactions to diverse explanations of evil and violence. He recently coedited a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues: "Milgram at 50: Exploring the Enduring Relevance of Psychology's Most Famous Studies."

1. Introduction and Overview, Arthur G. Miller
I. Conceptual Perspectives on Good and Evil
2. The Evolution of Good and Evil, Joshua D. Duntley and David M. Buss
3. Free Will Evolved for Morality and Culture, Andrew E. Monroe, Kathleen D. Vohs, and Roy F. Baumeister
4. Categories, Intent, and Harm, Susan T. Fiske
5. “The Devil Made Me Do It”: The Deification of Consciousness and the Demonization of the Unconscious, John A. Bargh
II. Harming Others: Contexts, Causes, and Implications
6. Racism among the Well Intentioned: Bias without Awareness, John F. Dovidio, Samuel L. Gaertner, and Adam R. Pearson
7. Understanding Media Violence Effects, Sara Prot, Craig A. Anderson, Muniba Saleem, Christopher L. Groves, and Johnie J. Allen
8. How Dehumanization Promotes Harm, Nick Haslam and Steve Loughnan
9. The Social Psychology of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, Johanna Ray Vollhardt and Maggie Campbell-Obaid
10. Why Are the Milgram Experiments Still So Extraordinarily Famous—and Controversial?, Arthur G. Miller
11. A Social Interaction Approach to Objectification: Implications for the Social-Psychological Study of Sexual Violence, Sarah J. Gervais
III. The Self-Concept in Relation to Good and Evil Acts
12. False Moral Superiority, David Dunning
13. Making Relationship Partners Good: A Model of the Interpersonal Consequences of Compassionate Goals, Jennifer Crocker and Amy Canevello
14. Evil Persons or Evil Deeds?: What We’ve Learned about Incarcerated Offenders, June P. Tangney, Dan V. Blalock, Johanna B. Folk, and Jeffrey Stuewig
15. Dishonesty Explained: What Leads People to Act Immorally, Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely
IV. Group Perspectives on Good and Evil
16. Bystanders and Emergencies: Why Understanding Group Processes Is Key to Promoting Prosocial Behavior, Mark Levine and Neil Wilson
17. Remembering Historical Victimization: Potential for Intergroup Conflict Escalation and Conflict Reduction, Nyla R. Branscombe, Michael J. A. Wohl, and Ruth H. Warner
18. Organizations Matter, Arthur P. Brief and Kristin Smith-Crowe
19. Globalization and Terrorism: The Primacy of Collective Processes, Fathali M. Moghaddam, Victoria Heckenlaible, Madeleine Blackman, Sarah Fasano, and Daniel J. Dufour
V. The Possibilities for Kindness
20. Benefits and Liabilities of Empathy-Induced Altruism: A Contemporary Review, C. Daniel Batson, Nadia Y. Ahmad, and E. L. Stocks
21. Volunteerism: Multiple Perspectives on Benefits and Costs, Mark Snyder, Allen M. Omoto, and Patrick C. Dwyer
22. The Psychology of Heroism: Extraordinary Champions of Humanity in an Unforgiving World, Zeno E. Franco and Philip G. Zimbardo
Index