The transformation of groups of previously nonviolent individuals into repetitive killers of defenseless members of society has been a recurring phenomenon throughout history. This apparent transition of large numbers of so called “psychologically intact”, “ordinary” individuals, to perpetrators of extreme atrocities is one of the most striking variants of human behavior, but often appear incomprehensible to victims and bystanders and in retrospect even to the perpetrators themselves and to society in general. This transition is characterized by a set of symptoms and signs for which a common syndrome has been proposed, Syndrome E (Fried, Lancet, 1997). The purpose of such designation is not to medicalize this form of human behavior, but to provide a framework for future discussion and multidisciplinary discourse and for potential insights that might lead to early detection and prevention. The Brains that Pull the Triggers, a special conference under the auspices of the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies, will bring together scientists and scholars from the human, social and brain sciences along with guests from literature, politics, and law to bear upon this tragic invariant of the human condition.

International interdisciplinary conference convened by Itzhak Fried, fellow of the Paris Institute for advanced Studies, with the support of Alain Berthoz, Collège de France.

Argument 

Program

Mardi 28 avril 2015

Introduction

• 09:10 - Itzhak Fried (UCLA): “The Brains that Pull the Triggers. What is Syndrome E?”
• 09:50 - Alain Berthoz (Collège de France): “Is Empathy Involved in Perpetrators Behavior?”
• 10:20 - Break

The Perpetrators that Pull the Triggers: Observations, Interpretations and Experiments

Chair: Lionel Naccache (Brain & Spine Institute ICM)

• 10:45 - Christopher Browning (University of North Carolina): “The Elusive Holocaust Perpetrator”
• 11:15 - Jacques Sémelin (CNRS-Sciences Po Paris): “Understanding the Genocidal Process”
• 11:45 - Stephen Reicher (University of Saint Andrews): “On Obedience, Choice and Accountability – or Why Orders Don’t Work”
• 12:15 - Discussion
• 13:00 - Lunch break

The Brains that Pull the Triggers: Perception, Volition, Decision

Chair: to be confirmed

• 14:15 - Lasana Harris (University of Leiden): “Dehumanised Perception: A Psychological Mechanism that May Facilitate Human Atrocities”
• 14:45 - Patrick Haggard (University College London):  “Volition and Affect: How Do Positive, Negative, Right and Wrong Outcomes Influence Human Sense of Agency”
• 15:15 -  Wolf Singer (Max Planck Institute for Brain Research): “The Coexistence of the Good and the Evil in a Single Brain: Phase Transitions in a Non-Linear Dynamical System?”
• 15:45 - Discussion
• 16:30 - Break
• 16:45 - Etienne Koechlin (ENS Paris): “Neural Mechanisms of Rule Compliance in Humans”
• 17:15 - Beatrice de Gelder (University of Maastricht): “Group Influences on Individual Social Behavior”
• 17:45 - Discussion
• 18:30 - Cocktail

Mercredi 29 avril 2015

The Brains that Pull the Triggers: Self and Emotional regulation

Chair: Nicolas Georgieff (University of Lyon 1)

• 08:45 -  Coffee
  
• 09:00 - Ray Dolan (University College London): “Self and Other Valuation”
• 09:30 - Alain Berthoz (Collège de France): “Is Empathy Involved in Perpetrators Behavior?”
• 10:00 - Nemat Jaafari and Bérangère Thirioux (University of Poitiers): “Psychiatric Perspective”
• 10:30 - Discussion
• 11:00 - Break

The Individual and the Group: Mechanisms of Group Contagion

Chair: Saadi Lahlou (London School of Economics)

• 11:00 - Luciano Fadiga (University of Ferrara): “Sharing to Communicate: Neurophysiological Mechanisms”
• 11:30 - Julie Grèzes (ENS Paris): “Group Membership Prejudices Early Neural Processing of Emotions”
• 12:00 - Eddie Hartmann (University of Potsdam): “Symbolic Boundaries and Collective Violence. Boundary Activation as a Key Mechanism of Collective Violent Behaviour”
• 12:30 - Discussion
• 13:00 - Lunch Break

Ethical and Legal Issues

Chair: Jean-Paul Costa (President, International Institute of Human Rights)

• 14:30 - Ilina Singh (Oxford): “Do Brains or Persons Pull the Trigger?: Ethics of Medicalizing Violence”
• 15:00 - Michael S. Gazzaniga (UCSB): “Beliefs and Brains: A Critical Balance”
• 15:30 - James Stewart (Deputy Prosecutor, International Criminal Court): “Responsibility and Punishment”
• 16:00 - Discussion
• 16:45 - Itzhak Fried (UCLA): “Concluding Remarks”