Blog 1 Draft - Rwandan Genocide

very early on in the semester i had decided to do blog #5 about the social psychological variables involved in genocide, mainly due to intrigue from hearing small bits and pieces about the Rwandan genocide and also after watching Hotel Rwanda. so, after reading a little more these are some of the main variables (although there appear, as usual in psychology, about a thousand factors involved) that i have come up with so far...

* prejudice - scapegoat theory/realistic conflict theory
* aggression (displaced)
* obedience to authority
* conformity
* propaganda
* in/out groups
* confirmation bias
* blaming victim
* fundamental attribution error
* authoritarian leaders
* bystander effect
* 'groupthink'
* ............
* ............

so these are the ideas i plan to talk about in my first ever assessed blog! although at this stage i do find the idea of fitting all of the variables into 1500 words slightly daunting. plus there a innumerable other cultural, economical, political, situational, etc. factors that im not even daring to consider at this stage.


graham

ps. only 2 more weeks until "holidays"!!!!