Is research on tyrants

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Is research on tyrants personality any use?

• A lay approach to understanding cruel tyranny
• Some reasons why it might be worthwhile
• A little bit of the history of personality of
  dictators study
• Some developments
• A new angle
• Some models to use
• Paper in progress.

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Image with title Dictators Threaten

• Problems defining defining dictatorship
• Often elites
• I am coming at it from Individual Difference so
  likely to side with Himmelfarb (1948) No Hitler
  No Holocaust
• Will avoid problems by saying any leader
  anywhere who, in their authority, occasions with
  deliberate intent actions resulting in something
  which could constitute a crime against humanity

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Why study them?

• Image of Paul I /Russia
• An example of the speed with which dictators
  bring their province to ruin
• Hitlers tyranny didnt last long and ruined the
  world
• Likewise Galtieri
• Occasionally, economic stability can occur
  (Gilson Milhaupt 2009)

• Speed of collapse
• dire results
• Image bibliotekar.ru

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BESTIARIES

• Bad and cruel behaviour
• Havoc
• Always popping up
• Persuasive ideologies which corrupt

• Herodotus, Josephus, Suetonius, Thucydides......

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Why Study Them?

• World Development has more potential for them.
  Going into ........................the Ecological
  Necessity Tunnel
• Allusions to Right Wing Authoritarianism in the
  Deep Ecology Movement.
• NB Ann Harringtons 1996 study of organic holism
  in early Nazi years

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Further dictatorship dangers

• economic necessity
• Globalisation. International companies have
  forced national policies into authoritarian
  channels
• Terrorism and the subterfuge of secrecy needs
• Quote from Brecht on the defeat of Arturi Ui
  (models Hitler in 1941) in the play you may feel
  relieved but you shouldnt the womb that bore
  him is in heat again

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Problems of studying personality in dictators

• Image of Pol Pot
• Problems of studying personality in dictators and
  worse still, linking ascendancy with the masses
  to personality characteristics

• Pol Pot Cambodia Archive
• Most is post hoc selective
• pathologised , avoids culpability
• Politicalcontamination
• Non quantitative
• over-individualised
• Ethically doubtful

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Image of A Hitler with the Windsors!

• Probably this man triggered systematic study
• Walter Langer studied him biographically at a
  distance in 1943. Henry Murray likewise.
• Lots of stories e.g. How Hitler never exited from
  Hypnotic Trance at Passewalk

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Researcher Purpose Pathologisation Walter
Langer 1943 strategic prediction P Murray
1943 knowledge as a prevention of tyranny
P Erich Fromm 1941,1973 wanted to put a
strong psychoanalytic representation P T
aylor 1961 and 1982 wished to describe the
political dimension P Coolidge
2007 prevention P Coolidge 2007 leadership
expose P Coolidge 209 Leadership expose P
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Purposes of PersonalityStudy in a psychological
mode?

• Viewed publication of results as to act as a sort
  of warning to would-be Hitlers

• Henry Murray

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Purposes of Personality Study in a psychological
mode

• However, we know now that there are many who
  threaten world peace and
• stability. It is hoped that this study of Adolf
  Hitlers personality (1) will be useful in
  understanding the role psychopathology might play
  in the execution of heinous acts, and (2)
  ........... Frederick L. Coolidge, Felicia L.
  Davis, Daniel L. Segal (2007)

• Frederick Coolidge et al 2007

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Hitler according to Collidge et al (2007)

• Sadism
• Paranoia
• Narcissism
• Antisocial PD
• BUT note anger, post traumatic stress disorder
  and decision-making as part of the subscale
  elevations

• What did he and colleagues offer us

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Features of Style

• Used post hoc inter-rater reliability
• Usually professionals psychiatry, historians
• Used less reliable instruments
• Highly pathologised. Made them remote
• Largely Ignored stages
• Considered that knowledge about the naughtiness
  would convince the world about dangerous leaders
  (Mayer 1993)

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Some doubts

• Re-assessing using inter-rater tools
• Beginning to try and involve slightly tighter
  instruments
• Contrary opinion about the original views of the
  Nuremburg trial investigations by Gilbert
• Laboratory studies of us very influenceable

• Reassing Hitler Henry, D., Geary, D.,and Tyrer,P
  (1993)
• Reassessing the Commandant of Auschwitz. Ritzler
  and Singer 1998
• The Milgram authority experiments subsequent
• The Zimbardo Prison Experiment subsequent

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Some additional psychological categories

• Authoritarianism
• Intolerance of ambiguity
• Social dominance
• Strong Ideology associated with poor
  interpersonal values (the latter time and again!)

• Note direction of study is now moving towards
  generalised characteristics of a normal
  population.

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Purposes of Personality Study in a psychological
mode

• An assumption that the value of studying such
  orientations is that ideas alone will provide a
  response to dictatorial regime!!
• His experience and knowledge says ideas wont do
  anything at all when you are at the end of a gun
  and cruelty.

• Commentary by Fathali Moghaddam
• (2013)

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Some Additional Psychological Categorising

• BRAIN
• Changes through interaction styles with people if
  we dominate seeing more as a means lack of
  empathy (Robertson 2013)
• Changes in reward systems in the brain Dopamine
  (Boksem 2012)

• Evidence of the effects of power on people
  actually in office

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Are such people really mad?

• War crimes
• Genocidal crime
• Mass murder
• BUT they dont replicate the mad frame

• Evidence has been gleaned from studies of
  individuals, mostly brought through to trial for
  crimes against humanity

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EXAMPLE WAR CRIMINALITY

• Goreta and Covic (2004)
• Slightly higher than normal population of
  criminality and anti social personality disorder
• BUT
• Secondarily traumatised destruction of property,
  deaths
• Heroism politically encouraged
• Polarisation discourse prevails

• Goreta,M., Covik, I.P. (2004).Forensic
  psychiatric evaluation of perpetrators of crimes
  committed during the war in Croatia (19911995).
  International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
• 27 (2004) p. 207214

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Better Methods

• Psycho-historical extrapolation legal process
  allowing access (we dont execute them) more
  refined psychometrics gaming models awareness
  of social structure and effects, much advanced

• There are more effective methods of research
  using extrapolation

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Bridges between individual and social

• The joy of being right !! (or left)
• His hypothesis is that the function of
  righteousness is to make us cohere
• And dictators are always right ! Have you ever
  come across one.
• We dont have to buy Haidts total categorising
  system but......

• Jonathan Haidt (2012)

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Bridges between individual and social

• Flocking behaviour
• Maybe not at all rational but instinctive
• Models coming from
• Biological systems
• Computer modelling
• Voting Research

• We are looking for those interactive moments
  between personality displayed and social movement

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Features of Flocking

• Flocking requires rigidity and conformity to
  effect group change
• Only occurs at particular times
• Computer models demonstrate few and not
  necessarily in front initiate turning
• Changes in awareness
• Needs are to maintain position, prevent clashing
  tight network thinking

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Nature of Meaning theories

• Image of Ian Brady, killer of 5 children
• Studied by David Winter
• Main position here and in the personal construct
  model is that STRUCTURE of personality via
  meaning is what motivates and characterises us.
• TIGHTNESS of our ideas and behaving is response
  to threat

• Example of the Moors Murderer - Ian Brady
• Ref Winter, D (2007 ).
• Lets change our personality study focus to
  meaning structure

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Dilemmas An example of tools for eliciting
tight meaning frameworks

• Side with Serbs
• War with Croats Peace with Croats
• ? Vs ?
• Chance to survive Being slaughtered
• Stojnov 2003
• Read with next slide

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Dilemmas An example of tools for eliciting
tight meaning frameworks

• Side with Croats
• War with Serbia Peace with Serbs
• ? vs ?
• Being yourself Losing your being

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Nature of Meaning theories

• Tracing the structure and defences against loss
  of meaning
• ???
• Severe loss of meaning is compensated for in
  strong bonding with ideological centre
• ???
• I the Party

• Fundamental assumption in such theories lies in
  the role of core meaning

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Moving toward a testable Model

• We can measure the degree of tightness in a
  survey of constructions of events by means of a
  matrix called a Repertory Grid
• We can compare between two climates
• i. psychology informed
• ii. Random selection
• Hypothesis that Psychologically informed climates
  will have less polarised/tight movement in times
  of change/threat

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Psychologically informed climates

• Psychologically informed climates have to be on
  the peoples own terms
• They have to be local
• They can be taken up in the arts
• Can be reflected in deep assumptions in media

• Housing
• Runaways
• Depression care
• Detention regimes dealing with personality
  disorder
• And more to come

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Psychologically Informed Climates

• Importing the concept of social health
  awareness
• Dictator studies can inform
• Small group awareness in oppressive corners
  e.g. workplace, military, cultural centres

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There is growing recognition of the need for a
"sea change" away from a simple clinical
interventions framework for community mental
health and addressing health inequalities. There
are clear linkages in this new approach with past
and emerging policy frameworks in public health
and corporate social responsibility, including
the need for more "bottom up" solutions with
local ownership.  Johnson, R., Haigh,R. (2011).
Social psychiatry and social policy. The
21st-century-new concepts the new needs
relational health. Mental health and social
inclusion 15 (2), pp 57-65
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Why might we wish to research these individuals?

• Psychologically informed climates
• Sensitisation by narrative to brutality
• Develop potential recognition in individuals of
  tipping points
• Develop wider awareness of how damaged meaning
  systems link the dominant individual and the
  society

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WHAT ARE DICTATORS?

• These are people with meaning systems which
  propose solutions to others but which process is
  in effect a holding mechanism for their own
  crisis of meaning. The representation of this
  bond given the right circumstances leads to
  flocking/herding/hive responses to crises in a
  mass with minimal leadership in the body of the
  population.
• We need to know about this

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Why might we wish to research these individuals?

• Psychologically informed climates
• Sensitisation by narrative to brutality
• Develop potential recognition in individuals
• Develop wider awareness of the potential
  circumstances
• Spot the window before the flocking occurs

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address

• dbury_at_syr.edu
• dennisbury_at_gmail.com
• 020 8348 9181

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Example of dictator research

• Shortly to be launched. Seeking
  definitions/categories and then mapping dictators
  of the present and of history onto the scales.

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DEFINING

• Comprehensiveness
• 1 2 3 4 5

• Dictator Rating Scales

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The definition here is focused upon the extent to
which the dictator/dictatorial elite control is
invasive to the lives of ordinary citizens. This
will be a reflection of pervasiveness through
spying systems, media and institutions.
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Dictator Scale Categories

• Comprehensiveness
• Terror
• Ideological elaboration
• Single figure
• Consistently unstable
• Militarisation

• Looking for Surface Profiles