Fathali M. Moghaddam

Fathali M. Moghaddam
Residence	United States
Nationality	Iranian
Known for	Research on social psychology, cultural psychology and psychology of conflict
Scientific career
Fields	Psychology
Institutions	Georgetown University McGill University United Nations

Fathali M. Moghaddam is an Iranian psychologist, professor of psychology at Georgetown University and director of Conflict Resolution Program, Department of Government, Georgetown University.

Moghaddam has proposed that there are two types of behavior: a first that is causally determined and a second that is normatively regulated. The mistake of traditional psychology, and social sciences more broadly, is to try to explain all behavior by applying causal models. He has attempted to demonstrate how causal and normative accounts can combine to create a more complete science of behavior. Second, through concepts such as the embryonic fallacy and interobjectivity, Moghaddam gives priority to collective over individual processes, and argues that personal worldview and identity emerge from collective worldview and identity. This sets him apart from traditional research, which he argued is individualistic and reductionist. Third, Moghaddam has criticized traditional psychology as reflecting the international power structure, with the United States as the only superpower of psychology stamping the discipline with its individualistic, 'self help' ideology. He has criticized what he claims is a 'wholesale' exportation of American psychology to the rest of the world, and argued for the need for an appropriate psychology for the non western world. His concept of double reification describes the process of Western culture being exported to the modern sector of non-Western societies, then being 'discovered' by cross-cultural researchers and reported as a 'universal.'

Since 9/11, Moghaddam has applied his 'collectivist/normative' approach to explaining radicalization and terrorism in the context of accelerating fractured globalization. His staircase model of terrorism is a concrete outcome of this approach. His solution to radicalization is a new policy to managing intergroup relations, based on his alternative policy of omniculturalism, which focused on human commonalities and rejects both assimilation and multiculturalism. He has also worked to establish an empirical basis for universal human rights, and to explain the rise and fall of dictatorships through his springboard model. His claim is that in terms of personality characteristics, there are potential dictators in all human groups. The key is to understand the conditions that give rise to the springboard, which enables a potential dictator to spring to power.

Although Moghaddam was initially trained as an experimental researcher using the minimal group paradigm (Henri Tajfel was his PhD thesis examiner), he has also used qualitative methods, collaborating with Rom Harré on positioning theory and exploring the role of language in conflicts. His interest in diverse methods have extended to cross-disciplinary interest in psychology and literature. Since 2013 he is the editor of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology.

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