The goal of this book is to provide, first, a critical discussion of collective irrationality from the perspectives of different research traditions in psychological science and, second, introduce a forward- looking theory of collective irrationality, one that will help stimulate greater attention to this topic on the part of researching and practicing psychologists.
Collective irrationality is a neglected topic in mainstream psychology. Individual irrationality has been extensively examined from different research perspectives, most recently through the lens of cognitive neuroscience, but collective irrationality continues to be ignored. This is in large part due to the reductionism of mainstream psychology, dominated as it is by the individualistic culture of the United States. However, the most serious challenges confronting humankind, including global warming and nuclear proliferation, arise out of collective irrationality, which is in a number of important ways different from individual irrationality. Thus, the neglect of collective irrationality represents an important gap that this work will help fill.
Fathali M. Moghaddam is Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University, Washington D.C., U.S.A. He served as Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science (2014-2020), The Georgetown University Conflict Resolution Program (2008-2014), and Editor-in-Chief, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology (2014-2021; published by the American Psychological Association). Dr. Moghaddam was born in Iran, educated from an early age in England, and returned to Iran with the revolution in 1979. He was researching and teaching in Iran during the hostage taking crisis and the first three years of the Iran-Iraq War. After work for the United Nations, he researched and taught at McGill University, Canada, from 1984, before moving to Georgetown in 1990. He has conducted experimental and field research, as well as been involved in applied projects, in numerous cultural contexts and published extensively on the psychology of cultural diversity, human rights, conflict, radicalization and terrorism, democracy, and dictatorship. In the area of political behavior, his most recent books are 'The Psychology of Dictatorship' (2013), 'The Psychology of Democracy' (2016), 'The Encyclopedia of Political Behavior' (2 vols. 2017); 'Mutual Radicalization: The Psychology of How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes' (2018), 'The Psychology of Radical Social Change' (co-edited with B. Wagoner and J. Valsiner, 2018), 'Threat to Democracy: The Appeal of Authoritarianism in an Age of Uncertainty' (2019), 'How Psychologists Failed: We Neglected the Poor, Favored the Rich and Privileged, and Got Science Wrong' (2022), 'Political Plasticity: The Future of Democracy and Dictatorship' (2023), and The Psychology of Revolution (2024). Dr. Moghaddam has been recognized for his academic work by a number of prestigious awards, including from the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP). More about his research and publications can be found on his website: fathalimoghaddam.com
