Psychology for human rights
A decade ago, amid early reports of detainee abuse at CIA black sites and Guantanamo Bay, defenders of U.S. detention and interrogation operations promoted a flawed distinction between torture and “torture-lite.” They argued that, to our nation’s credit, rather than resorting to brutal and violent maiming and mutilation, we employed less cruel techniques—techniques like sleep …
Continue reading “Rejecting the Obama-Cheney Alliance Against Torture Prosecutions”
In his book Life Lines, the late minister and theologian Forrest Church wrote, “When cast into the depths, to survive we must first let go of things that will not save us. Then we must reach out for things that can.” These are words – and actions – that the leaders and membership of the …
Continue reading “Cast Into the Depths: Perilous Waters for the APA”
by Roy Eidelson, Mikhail Lyubansky, and Kathie Malley-Morrison Authors Note. As three white psychologists, we offer this brief essay with the awareness that our perspective is necessarily limited by our lived experience as members of the privileged racial class. Through our many years of work as both psychologists and activists, we know first-hand how …
Continue reading “Building a Racially Just Society: Psychological Insights”
"The position of the American Psychological Association is clear and unequivocal: For more than 25 years, the association has absolutely condemned any psychologist participation in torture." — Statement by the APA, November 2013 "The American Psychological Association, the largest professional organization for psychologists, worked assiduously to protect the psychologists who did get involved in the …
Continue reading “New Evidence Links CIA to APA War-on-Terror Ethics”
Last month, a proposal to establish a US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Center for Excellence in Operational Neuroscience at Yale University died a not-so-quiet death. The broad goal of “operational neuroscience” is to use research on the human brain and nervous system to protect and give tactical advantage to U.S. warfighters in the field. …
Continue reading “Neuroscience, Special Forces, and Ethics at Yale”
The controversy continues regarding retired military psychologist Larry James, who is seeking an executive director position in the College of Education at the University of Missouri. As one of two finalists for the position, last week James participated in a public forum at the university. Many of the questions following his formal presentation were …
Continue reading “Torturing the Truth and Whitewashing Hell”
For all of the wrong reasons, torture has been in the national news this past week. First, President Obama nominated John Brennan as the new director of the CIA, a man who embraced and defended the Bush Administration’s use of torturous “enhanced interrogation techniques” (before joining the current White House and becoming a leading advocate …
Continue reading “The Torture Debate Echoes: An Army Psychologist's Job Search”
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written nearly 200 years ago, a young scientist brings to life a hideous monster made of body parts collected from slaughterhouses, dissecting rooms, and graveyards. Dr. Frankenstein is immediately horrified and sickened by what he has created, and he abandons the creature. Alone and shunned by society, the monster later returns …
Continue reading “Dr. Frankenstein and the APA’s Decade of Monstrosities”
(NOTE: My thanks to co-author Stephen Soldz.) Ten years of continuous war — characterized by multiple deployments, elusive guerilla adversaries, and occupied populations seemingly more tilted toward resentment than gratitude — have taken a significant toll on US troops. In addition to those who have been killed, physically maimed, or neurologically impaired by combat, many …
Continue reading “The Army's Flawed Resilience-Training Study: A Call for Retraction”
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s …