Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

Trends. Why Iraq Is Winning, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the contrast between military performance and war narrative in the context of the United States-led military intervention in Iraq in the era of Saddam Hussein.

Trends. Iraq And The Implosion Of The Terrorism Construct, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses assorted definitions of terrorism to determine which definitions could practically be applied to military action as a way of reducing violence against United States military personnel in Iraq.

Trends. Group Psychology And War Planning, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the importance of group dynamics and mood in a war setting.

A Profile Of National Leader Profiles And The Social Construction Of The Self: An Example Of Information Warfare, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article hypothesizes some implications of the social construction of the self for the construction of personality profiles of national leaders and their employment in information warfare.

God And Man In The White House: Implications For Going To War, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article highlights pertinent psychological research on the relationship between a national leader’s religious beliefs and that leader’s decision making on going to war.

Trends. A Casualty Of War: Suicide As A Response To An American-Led Invasion Of Iraq, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the political psychology of suicide as protest.

Trends. Geropsychology And Global Security, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses how to evaluate whether national leaders, as senior citizens, can be considered the best and brightest, and the possible role for cognitive stimulation.

The Politics Of Helping: An Example From Guatemala, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article identifies a complexity of helping others based on beliefs in the therapeutic value of such constructs as reliving memories, venting, catharsis, and the return of the repressed.

Psychological Operations And An Iatrogenic Threat In Iraq, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes a psychological phenomenon that might lead to the backfiring of an attempt at employing psychological operations.

The “Politically Motivated” Defense: An Example From Paraguay, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes and analyzes the construct of a specific defense strategy employed by political leaders against allegations of wrongdoing.

Suicide, Terrorism, And Suicidal Terrorism: Basic Assumptions, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article provides a statistically deviant perspective (among many self-professed counter terrorism experts) on the novelty and value of suicide, terrorism, and suicidal terrorism.

The Pros And Cons Of Fearing Fear: Examples From Venezuela And New York State, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes consequences of fear for security-related public policy.

The Political Psychology Of Cybersexuality: The Example Of Child Pornography, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article analyzes rationales behind legislation banning certain aspects of cybersexuality.

Trends. North Korea, The United States, And Causal Relevance: Relevant To The Contemporary Conflict?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the importance of social inferential differences in the analysis of the intentions of adversaries, especially in crises. Countries discussed include North Korea (DPRK) and the United States.

Obedience To Authority As Obedience To Authority: Current Perspectives On The Milgram Paradigm, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article considers political implications of the Milgram obedience studies and of how these studies have fared in professional and lay discourse. A point of departure for the article is a volume edited by Thomas Blass on the studies.

Trends. The 9/11 Commission: Personnel Selection And The Problem Of Caesar’S Wife, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discussed the controversial appointment of Henry Kissinger to the Commission to investigation and make recommendations concerning the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and his subsequent resignation from it. Of particular emphasis: the idea of being above reproach.

Personality In Political Psychology, Aubrey Immelman

Psychology Faculty Publications

This chapter outlines the history of personality inquiry in political psychology, examines the current state of personality assessment in politics, and charts a course for the study of personality in politics in the post-cognitive revolution era, informed by contextually adjacent scientific fields such as behavioral neuroscience and evolutionary ecology.

The chapter offers a comprehensive, generative, theoretically coherent framework for studying personality in politics, consonant with established principles in the adjacent sciences and integrative with respect to accommodating a diversity of politically relevant personal characteristics. The proposed framework attempts to bridge conceptual and methodological gaps between current formulations in the source …

Trends. Terrorist Brains, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the construct of biological reductionism in the context of the case of Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof. For the author, overly emphasizing the biological aspects of Ms. Meinhof’s case might obscure legitimate grievances, and ultimately, lead to more cases of violence associated with terrorism.

Trends. Disclosure Of Post-9-11 Arrestees And Maslow’S Hierarchy Of Needs, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the Maslowian hierarchy of needs in the context of 9-11 terrorist attacks and the relationship between executive and judicial branches of American government.

Trends. Getting Emotional On Nonlethal Weapons, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes a significant biopsychosocial impediment to developing nonlethal weapons affecting emotional functioning.

Trends. Sniping As Terrorism And Terrorism As Sniping, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the possible terrorist context of sniper attacks perpetrated in the greater Washington, D.C. area in 2002, and the potential impact on global social cohesion.

The Black And White Of Profiling: Sniping On The Sniper Case, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article analyzes the construct of profiling in the aftermath of the arrest of two suspects in the recent sniper attacks perpetrated in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Commentary On “Conditions For Success And Failures Of Denial And Deception: Democratic Regimes”, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article provides commentary on an essay written by Mr. Walt Jajko. Mr. Jajko’s essay was itself a commentary on an article published in the book, Strategic Denial and Deception, the Twenty First Century Challenge, that was edited by Roy Godson and James J. Wirtz and published by Transaction Publishers (2002).

Mr. Jajko was formerly assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight and director, Special Advisory Staff, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy within the United States Government (USG).

Trends. If You're So Right, Why Are We Sure You're So Wrong? Iraq, Free Riders, And Social Loafing, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses and evaluates public discourse surrounding the acceptability of militarily invading Iraq through a social psychological perspective. In social psychology, the research tradition for constructs such as free-riding and social loafing suggests that, wittingly or unwittingly, many political actors assume that the United States will act to address actual political threats in a certain way, and that they (the other political actors) can adopt contrarian ideological stances because they don’t have to address those same threats.

Humiliation And Terrorism: Final Common Pathway Or Lowest Common Denominator?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes complexities in attributing a construct termed the primary causal factor to terrorist behavior perpetrated by espousers of variants of something called radical Islam against the interests of the United States Government (USG) and against something called the West.

Trends. Self-Esteem And Terrorism, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses the role self-esteem plays in terrorist behavior. Analysis includes the application of Jennifer Crocker and Connie T. Wolfe’s views as presented in their 2001 Psychological Review article “Contingencies of self-worth” (Vol 108 (3), pp. 593-623).

The Double Edged Sword Of Disaster Psychology In The Context Of Terrorism, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes implicit assumptions, and clinical and political implications, of prescriptions for psychological services in the aftermath of terrorism-created disaster. The article is one of a series in IBPP that focuses on crisis psychology, stress management, and critical incident debriefing in an era of a United States Government (USG)-announced war on terrorism with global reach.

Trends. War On Personality And Personality And War: Comments On Nass And Lee (2002), Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses another article – Identity and deconstruction, by Clifford Nass and Kwan Min Yee – published in volume 3 (2002) of Archives of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy in which the authors demonstrate that people reliably attribute personality characteristics to computer-synthesized speech, exploring the ramifications in a political psychological context.

The Societal Costs Of Surveillance: An Alternative View On Civil Liberties Constraints, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores some psychological phenomena bearing on the consequences of civil liberties constraints.

Trends. Personnel Security In An Age Of Terrorism With Global Reach, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This Trends article discusses what an appropriate level of commitment to a security bureaucracy might look like.