Interrogation policy and American psychology in the global context.

Abstract

Rather than the ethics or efficacy of torture interrogation, this article explores the wider sociopolitical context in which torture takes place, with particular focus on the global role of American psychology. Psychological research, such as on displacement of aggression, suggests that torture might be undertaken for reasons other than information gathering. American psychologists enjoy relatively greater freedom to explore the wider psycho-political role of torture interrogation associated with group and intergroup dynamics. Because of their “first” world status as the sole superpower of psychology in the post-World War II era, American psychologists can, in important ways, influence psychologists in the “second” and “third” worlds of psychology through the position they adopt on torture interrogation.