What leads groups of people, whether a society or a terrorist group, to turn against "them," to develop destructive ideologies and engage in actions that lead to the evolution of extreme violence? How can such violence be prevented?

The talk will address these questions, with the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and contemporary terrorism as examples. It will also address reconciliation, describing a series of projects over 10 years in Rwanda to promote reconciliation and thereby prevent new violence.

Ervin Staub, Ph.D., is Professor and Founding Director of the Ph.D. program in the Psychology of Peace and the Prevention of Violence, Emeritus, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has studied the roots of altruism, the origins of violence including genocide and mass killing, as well as prevention, and psychological recovery and reconciliation. He is the author of many publications, with a new book, Overcoming Evil (Oxford University Press), which focuses on prevention and reconciliation of mass violence, including genocide, violent conflict and terrorism near completion. He is past President of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence and of the International Society for Political Psychology.

2008 Hastorf Lecture Sponsored by Barbara & Albert Hastorf