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

Staub, Ervin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521821282 ISBN 13: 9780521821285

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This book explores the roots of goodness and evil by gathering together the knowledge gained in a lifelong study of harmful or altruistic behavior. Ervin Staub has studied what leads children and adults to help others in need and how caring, helping, and altruism develop in children; bullying and youth violence and their prevention; the roots of genocide, mass killing, and other harmful behavior between groups of people; the prevention of violence; healing victimized groups and reconciliation between groups. He presents a broad panorama of the roots of violence and caring and how we create societies and a world that is caring, peaceful, and harmonious.

About this title

Review:

"Ervin Staub's timely and well-researched book combines knowledge and wisdom, challenging notions of evil, and stimulating concepts of good." Elie Wiesel, recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace

"The Psychology of Good and Evil offers a profound scientific reflection on an urgent question for mankind: why do people act so destructively, on the one hand, or with compassion and caring on the other? Psychology rarely grapples with such compelling issues, and even more rarely with the brilliance, insight, and power of Ervin Staub. I strongly recommend his book to anyone concerned about the future of our children, and their children." Daniel Goleman, Author of Destructive Emotions and Emotional Intelligence

"Authoritative, grounded, profoundly humane: a rare opportunity to review a lifetime of important work in one book." Richard Rhodes, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Masters of Death, and Why They Kill

"Ervin Staub, like no one else, has richly informed our understanding of our human capacity for both evil and good. His life work, bred by his own experience as a Holocaust survivor, marries a scientistas mind with a humanitarianas heart. Kudos to Cambridge University Press for collecting his influential writings, together with new works, in one accessible volume." David G. Myers, Hope College, author of Intuition and The Pursuit of Happiness

"...enlightening...engaging...It is a systematic, rational, and very detailed discussion of a complex subject that is sure to help clarify the thinking of both academics and lay individuals in these uncertain times." Metapsychology Online Book Reviews

"Over the course of almost four decades, Professor Staub has made signal contributions to our understanding of why some people commit unspeakable acts, why others risk their lives to save their intended victims, and why most of us just look the other way. Professor Staub has never looked the other way, and his research and practical efforts to foster--tolerance and accelerate healing--described in this volume--stand as an inspiration to us all." Richard Ned Lebow, James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government, Dartmouth College

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0521821282
• ISBN 13: 9780521821285
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 610