ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a definition of collective violence and briefly outlines the four main types of collective violence: war, genocide, terrorism, and gang violence. It considers whether the human capacity for collective violence may reflect something about the evolutionary history of our species. The chapter also considers the prominent psychological and situational approaches to understanding collective violence. Drawing on classic and contemporary research in social psychology the chapter examines the role of authority figures and the psychology of inter-group relations in the genesis of collective violence. It considers how Bandura's model of moral disengagement can shed light on the psychological processes that enable war, genocide, and terrorism to occur. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the key situational processes that can facilitate acts of collective violence and can help people to understand why, in certain contexts, many individuals are willing to engage in harmful acts directed against others.
