Moghaddam, Fathali M.

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Moghaddam, Fathali M.

PERSONAL:

Born in Iran. Education: University of Liverpool, B.A.; University of Surrey, M.Sc., Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Box 571001, White-Gravenor Hall 306, Washington, DC 20057-1001; fax: 202-687-6050. E-mail—moghaddf@georgetown.edu.

CAREER:

McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, former staff member; United Nations, former staff member; Georgetown University, Washington, DC, professor of psychology.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Lifetime Achievement Award, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence, 2007.

WRITINGS:

(With Donald M. Taylor) Theories of Intergroup Relations: International Social Psychological Perspectives, Praeger (New York, NY), 1987, 2nd edition, 1994.

(With Donald M. Taylor and Stephen C. Wright) Social Psychology in Cross-Cultural Perspective, W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1993.

The Specialized Society: The Plight of the Individual in an Age of Individualism, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1997.

(With Charles Studer) Illusions of Control: Striving for Control in Our Personal and Professional Lives, Praeger (Westport, CT), 1998.

Social Psychology: Exploring Universals across Cultures, W.H. Freeman (New York, NY), 1998.

The Individual and Society: A Cultural Integration, Worth Publishers (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor, with Rom Harré) The Self and Others: Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political, and Cultural Contexts, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2003.

(Editor, with Anthony J. Marsella) Understanding Terrorism: Psychosocial Roots, Consequences, and Interventions, American Psychological Association (Washington, DC), 2004.

(Editor, with Norman J. Finkel) The Psychology of Rights and Duties: Empirical Contributions and Normative Commentaries, American Psychological Association (Washington, DC), 2005.

Great Ideas in Psychology: A Cultural and Historical Introduction, Oneworld (Oxford, England), 2005.

From the Terrorists' Point of View: What They Experience and Why They Come to Destroy, Praeger (Westport, CT), 2006.

(With Rom Harré and Naomi Lee) Conflict Resolution through Positioning Analysis, Springer (New York, NY), 2007.

Multiculturalism and Intergroup Relations: Psychological Implications for Democracy in Global Context, American Psychological Association Press (Washington, DC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Fathali M. Moghaddam is an Iranian-born, British-educated psychologist. He remained in Iran for five years after the Islamic Revolution before leaving to work with the United Nations and in Montreal at McGill University. Eventually he settled in Washington, DC, at Georgetown University as a professor of psychology. Throughout his career, Moghaddam has focused his research on the psychology of justice, inter-group relationship and conflict and, more recently, terrorism. In 2007 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence.

In 2006 Moghaddam published From the Terrorists' Point of View: What They Experience and Why They Come to Destroy. Moghaddam takes a social psychological approach to the reasons why terrorists act as they do, primarily focusing on those from Muslim nations of the Middle East. He believes these individuals lack a proper channel to express their frustrations as they seek to find their identity in an ever-globalizing world, adding that the U.S. military approach does nothing to address the core issue. Elizabeth R. Hayford, writing in the Library Journal, called the text "useful" due to Moghaddam's personal and professional experience in the area. Hayford lamented, however, that "the combination of theoretical analysis and concrete examples sometimes makes for awkward and dense prose." A contributor to the Midwest Book Review found the book appropriate for a general readership, noting that "it'd be a shame not to recommend this outside the college-level collection."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, November 15, 2006, Elizabeth R. Hayford, review of From the Terrorists' Point of View: What They Experience and Why They Come to Destroy, p. 81.

Midwest Book Review, October 1, 2006, review of From the Terrorists' Point of View.

Reference & Research Book News, November 1, 2006, review of From the Terrorists' Point of View.