As a trained industrial/organizational psychologist eons ago I studied the subject of evil only casually and ignorantly. I realized after studying and writing extensively about organizations, especially corporations and government bureaucracy in America, that together they are a motherlode of evil in character and behavior. In this article I explain my belated insight.

When I define a subject I always first turn to my trusted Merriam-Webster dictionary that gives this definition of evil: “morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked.” I keyed on the moral dimension and turned to Michael Josephson, a brilliant lawyer turned ethicist, a most unusual and ironic career switch, who had searched far and wide throughout time and places looking for moral values that consistently showed up in the literature no matter where he looked. He found them. I call them the ten universal moral values.

In my collection of incidents of wrongdoing reported in a variety of sources I found that all these values were consistently violated by the behavior of the U.S. corpocracy, or the collusion between the power elite of industry and government. The incidents were obviously countless in the war and related industries.

But let’s not overlook the professions, especially mine, psychology! If we agree that war is evil (Einstein, after all, defined war as “an act of murder”), then the field of professions is not immune to evil acts. Take my profession of psychology for instance. From its very outset forward psychologists have applied their discipline to war efforts. The behavioral psychologist, B.F. Skinner, trained pigeons to guide missiles through the sky. Psychologists help the military select and train personnel. Psychologists not too long ago advised the CIA on its torture program.

We might ask out of curiosity if not also edification who have been the evilest people throughout history. What I found was not particularly edifying or interesting. Let’s just say they are about as countless as sand and call it quits!

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Btw, my older daughter, Babette A. Brumback, PhD, is an internationally recognized biostatistician. She may be visiting your area later to give a lecture. If so, will give you the details. Maybe she could drop by and say “Hello.”

The post Psychology and Evil first appeared on Dissident Voice.

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.