Benedict Carey writes in the New York Times about two military torturers psychologists who (mis)used the theory of learned helplessness in their use of torture enhanced interrogation at Gitmo. This is not the first time that psychological theory has been used for ill purposes, and won’t be the last, unfortunately.
One of the researchers who conducted the initial studies on dogs, the prominent psychologist Martin J. Seligman, said he was “grieved and horrified” that his work was cited to justify the abusive interrogations.
Link to the NY Times article. The use of torture as been covered in this blog previously here and here.
