Large Group Psychology and Human Aggression
Date: Saturday, April 26: 9:00am-12:00pm
Credits: 3 CE
Speaker: Kevin Volkan, Ed.D., Ph.D., MP
Meeting is a Zoom Webinar
This seminar explores the psychological foundations of violence, warfare, and genocide, drawing on the work of Vamık and Kevin Volkan. It is typically assumed that large-scale conflicts are caused by "real events", i.e. economic, legal, military, political, etc. However, we often see that unconscious group psychology contaminates the external world, especially in conflicts that become chronic. The seminar will use psychoanalytic theory and case studies to explore the unconscious factors that shape human aggression and how large-group identities create stubborn obstacles for finding solutions to large-group conflicts. The ways individuals form groups and how individual identity is related to group identity will be explained from a psychoanalytic viewpoint. Time permitting, we will also discuss how to use psychoanalytic insights to intervene in large group conflicts.
Learning Objectives:
Define and differentiate between the role of Eros and the death instinct in small-groups as described by Freud and Bion and large-group psychology.
Explore the concepts of obsessive, schizoid, paranoid and narcissistic leaders and how these are related to group pathology.
Investigate the formation of large-group identity, its role in conflict, and how large group identity shapes group distinctions and entitlement ideologies.
Examine how projection, projective identification, and identification with the aggressor are related to genocide. The focus will include the elements that lead to mass violence, including intergenerational trauma, obedience, and dehumanization of others.
Evaluate the link between narcissism and leadership, including how exaggerated narcissism can escalate conflicts, and how to distinguish between reparative and destructive leaders.
Presenter Biography:
Kevin Volkan EdD, PhD, MPH is Professor of Psychology at California State University Channel Islands. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at California Lutheran University and as adjunct faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Dr. Volkan holds doctorates in clinical and quantitative psychology, is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health, and was formerly on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. His clinical training and experience are in psychoanalytic psychotherapy though he has experience using a variety of other clinical modalities. Dr. Volkan worked as a staff psychologist in a state hospital and in private practice. His clients included a diverse population representing a variety of socioeconomic strata and psychological distress. He was awarded the Sustained Superior Accomplishment Award from the State of California for his clinical work.
Dr. Volkan is the author of numerous psychoanalytic papers as well as the book Dancing Among the Maenads: The Psychology of Compulsive Drug Use. He has authored two books with his father Vamık Volkan - Schizophrenia: Science, Psychoanalysis, and Culture, and How the Mind Works: Concepts and Cases in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. His latest book, also written with his father, Human Aggression, War, and Genocide, will be published in February 2025.
References:
Hamburger, A., Hancheva, C. & Volkan, V. D. (Editors), (2020). Social Trauma: An Interdisciplinary Textbook. London: Springer.
Volkan, V. D. (2013). Enemies on the Couch: A Psychopolitical Journey Through War and Peace. Durham, NC: Pitchstone.
Volkan, V. D. (2014). Psychoanalysis, International Relations, and Diplomacy: A Sourcebook on Large-Group Psychology. London: Karnac.
Volkan, V. D., Scholz, R. & Fromm, M. G. (Editors) (2023). We Don’t Speak of Fear: Large-Group Identity, Societal Conflict, and Collective Trauma. London: Phoenix.
Volkan, V. D. & Volkan, K. (2024-in press). Human Aggression, War, and Genocide.Durham, NC: Pitchstone.
Continuing Medical Education
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the Dallas Psychoanalytic Center. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 4 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
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