The conference will bring together scientists and scholars from the human, social and brain sciences to bear upon the question of transformation of seemingly ordinary individuals to repetitive agents of extreme violence in groups (Syndrome E). The aim of the upcoming conference is to foster a multidisciplinary approach trying to elucidate the brain mechanisms of this behavior and its collective characteristics, and also to evoke the social, psychological, ethical and juridical aspects. The conference will be a culmination and synthesis of three years of studies and discussions and will conclude with plans for further actions.

Presentation

International conference convened by Itzhak Fried (Paris IAS / UCLA / Tel Aviv University) and Alain Berthoz (Collège de France), with the support of the Région Ile de France within the framework of the DIM Cerveau et Pensée, and the American University of Paris

The third international conference “The Brains that Pull the Triggers” will take place under the auspices of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study at the exceptional Hotel de Lauzun in Paris on May 10-12, 2017.

The conference will bring together scientists and scholars from the human, social and brain sciences to bear upon the question of transformation of seemingly ordinary individuals to repetitive agents of extreme violence in groups (Syndrome E). The menacing specter of such transformation in the human condition that has caused immense loss of life in the past, is a matter of grave concerns in contemporary civilization with the increase in global radicalization and discontent. In a special editorial, Nature magazine has described the first conference as “…a bold and important attempt to bring interdisciplinary approach to one of the biggest questions facing humanity”.  

The aim of the upcoming conference is to foster a multidisciplinary approach trying to elucidate the brain mechanisms of this behavior and its collective characteristics, and also to evoke the social, psychological, ethical and juridical aspects. The conference will be a culmination and synthesis of three years of studies and discussions and will conclude with plans for further actions.

Programme

Wednesday, May 10th

08:30 - Welcome and Coffee
INTRODUCTION

09:00 - Introduction and Welcome       
Gretty MIRDAL (Paris IAS), Alain BERTHOZ (Collège de France)

09:15 - The Brains that Pull the Triggers: Syndrome E, 2017
Itzhak FRIED (Paris IAS – UCLA and Tel Aviv University)
HEART OF DARKNESS: ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY PERPETRATORS

10:00 - How Ordinary People Become Violent: Frustration and Dehumanization
Susan FISKE (Princeton University)

10:40 - Break

11:00 - How Ordinary are ‘Ordinary Perpetrators’? Notes on the Genocidal Mentality
Abram DE SWAAN (University of Amsterdam)

11:40 - How Does one Become a Torturer? The Case of Douch in Cambodia
Françoise SIRONI (Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis)

12:20 - Discussion

13:00 - Lunch break

14:15 - Radovan Karadzic and the Role of Fear
Jessica STERN (Boston University)

14:55 - The Hermeneutics of Darkness: Interpreting Perpetrators on their Crimes
Brian SCHIFF (American university of Paris)

15:35 - Discussion

16:15 - Break

• SELF AND GROUP

16:30 - Identity Versus Self: Tensions Between Group, Radicalization and Individual Violence
JM BERGER (International Center for Counter-Terrorism)

17:10 - A Neural Mechanism for Empathy and the Role of Society in its Modifications
Giaccomo RIZZOLATTI (University of Parma)

17:50 - Discussion

Thursday May 11th

08:45 - Welcome and Coffee

• THE WILL TO DIE AND KILL

09:00 - Devoted Actors and the Will to Die and Kill
Scott ATRAN (University of Michigan)

09:40 - Stereotyped Behaviour of Perpetrators: “Critical Period” during pre-adolescence for tolerance and empathy?
Alain BERTHOZ (College de France)

10:20 - Discussion

10:50 - Break
BRAINS THAT PULL THE TRIGGERS : PLASTICITY OF BEHAVIOR

11:10 - The Roles of the Orbitofrontal Cortex in Changing and Sopping Behaviour
Edmund ROLLS (University of Oxford)

11:50 - Plasticity of Empathy and Prosocial Motivation: From Outgroup Hate to Ingroup Favouritism
Tania SINGER (Max Planck Institute for Human cognitive and Brain Sciences)

12:30 - Discussion

13:00 - Lunch Break
BRAINS THAT PULL THE TRIGGERS : UNDER THE INFLUENCE

14:15 - Brains on Drugs: Lessons from the Third Reich
Norman OHLER (Berlin – author of Blitzed, Drugs in the Third Reich)

15:00 - Are there Similarities Between the Effects of Drugs and Syndrome E?
Jean-Pol TASSIN (College de France)

15:40 - Discussion

16:20 - Break

• MORALITY, LAW, AND NEUROSCIENCE

16:35 - Moral Flexibility: Insights From Neuroscience
Molly CROCKET (University of Oxford)

17:15 - Bringing Together Neuroscience and the Law? Some Reflections
Jean-Paul COSTA (International Institute of Human Rights)

17:55 - Discussion

18:20: Concluding Remarks
Itzhak FRIED (Paris IAS – UCLA and Tel Aviv University)

Friday, May 12th

• WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

9:00 - Welcome and Coffee

9:15 - Roundtable 1: Past and Present Perpetrators: Issues of Interpretation and Prevention
With JM BERGER, Gretty MIRDAL, Norman OHLER, Abram DE SWAAN, Brian SCHIFF, Françoise SIRONI, Jessica STERN

10:30 - Break

11:00 - Roundtable 2: The Place of Neuroscience in Future Research on Perpetrators of Extreme Violence
With Alain BERTHOZ, Itzhak FREID, Etienne KOECHLIN (ENS Paris, tbc), Tania SINGER, Edmund ROLLS

12:15 - General Conclusion
Itzhak FRIED (Paris IAS – UCLA and Tel Aviv University) and Gretty MIRDAL (Paris IAS)