PALO ALTO , Calif.-- (BUSINESS WIRE)--Professors from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (PGSP) and Stanford University announced today the launch of the Center for Interdisciplinary Policy, Education, and Research on Terrorism (CIPERT). Directed by Philip G. Zimbardo and James N. Breckenridge, CIPERT will promote the scientific understanding of the causes and effects of all forms of political violence - from politically motivated hate crimes and intergroup hostility, to mass murder and genocide - and translate this understanding into effective policy, education, and research. The Center's leadership has spent more than two years researching American perceptions on terrorist threats and the emotions it evokes, and will release its first round of findings over a series of white papers this summer.
"The motivations behind political violence are multi-faceted, and can't be explained by one academic discipline," says Zimbardo, current professor at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and the Naval Post Graduate School, and author of the recently released The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. "CIPERT will examine where the social, political, historical, biological and psychological disciplines intersect to deliver groundbreaking research on political violence."
Operating as a "virtual" center based in Palo Alto, Calif., CIPERT has recruited a team of more than two dozen experts in the U.S. from a wide spectrum of social sciences, including political science, clinical, social and political psychology, psychiatry, criminology, sociology, history, and biology. CIPERT will conduct original, as well as translational research, emphasizing findings from the social sciences that have important consequences for policy, education, and future research.
"By sharing our knowledge across academic and political disciplines, CIPERT will provide a level of information that has never been available until now," says James N. Breckenridge, Ph.D., CIPERT associate director and co-author of The Psychology of Terrorism. "Given today ' s geopolitical climate, not pooling academic resources in this way would be nothing short of irresponsible."
CIPERT's leadership, in addition to Zimbardo and Breckenridge, includes Javaid I. Sheikh, M.D. and Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D. of Stanford University. The team has already developed and led a curriculum for homeland security leadership on the psychology of terrorism and fear management as part of the Naval Postgraduate School CHDS graduate and executive education programs. CIPERT contributors were recognized in 2003.
"Phil and Jim have brought together an all-star team of experts, and CIPERT's findings will certainly have a profound impact on the way we think about political violence when it comes to developing public policy," said Allen Calvin, Ph.D., president of PGSP. "PGSP is proud to stand alongside Stanford University and the Naval Postgraduate School in support of this endeavor."
For more information about CIPERT, please visit http://www.cipert.org. For more information on PGSP, please visit http://www.pgsp.edu. For more information on The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, go to: http://www.lucifereffect.com.
The Center for Interdisciplinary Policy, Education, and Research on Terrorism (CIPERT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting a collaborative network of academics, national security professionals, journalists, and business leaders. CIPERT is committed to the scientific understanding of the causes and consequences of political violence, especially terrorism, and to the translation of this understanding into effective policy, education, and research. CIPERT is sponsored by the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, by Stanford University through the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and by the Naval Postgraduate School through the Center for Homeland Defense and Security and the Center on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare.
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (PGSP) is a private, independent professional school in the San Francisco Bay area educating doctoral students since 1975. Established to serve society, PGSP is a diverse learning community dedicated to the search for knowledge and its dissemination. PGSP brings together a community of highly talented faculty and graduate students working side-by-side to bring scientific rigor and theoretical knowledge to the analysis and practice of clinical psychology.