ABSTRACT
A cycle of genocide instilled in many Hutu a fear of what the Tutsi might do if they gained power. Psychologist Herbert Kelman of Harvard University believes strongly in the power of the situation, but takes a broader view, focusing on how a society becomes genocidal. Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union provide classic examples of regimes using state power to dominate the lives of individuals. Social psychologists have produced a number of studies that support the power of circumstances to shape a mass killer. Stanley Milgram obedience studies and related research by other social psychologists have formed the core of an influential psychological approach to the origin of mass atrocities. The typical person, even the typical psychologist, might already be a potential murderer, ready to spring into action if the wrong circumstances happened along. Among the many paths followed by Nazi mass murderers, some may have fit the Milgram model.
