What kind of person is the state-sanctioned torturer? Under what conditions do governments use torture and violence against their own citizens? The Psychological Origins of Institutionalized Torture shows that under the right conditions even the most righteous among us can become torturers and killers. Approaching the subject through applied social psychology, the book links research on the torturers of the Greek military dictatorship and their victims to psychological studies of authoritarianism, conventionalism, social learning and cognitive theory. Original research, including interviews with former Greek torturers, is supplemented by discussion of former studies, military records and other sources, to provide disturbing but valuable insights into the psychology of torture. The book describes parallel situations such as the rites of passage in pre-industrial societies and cults, elite Corps military training and college hazing, eventually concluding that the torturer is not born, but made.
Of essential interest to academics and students interested in social psychology and related disciplines, this book will also be extremely valuable to policy-makers, professionals working in government, and all those interested in securing and promoting human rights.