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Author Michael E. McCullough in Conversation with Barbara Bradley Hagerty
A conversation with Michael E. McCullough, author of Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct, moderated by Barbara Bradley Hagerty of National Public Radio
The Harvard Club, New York City
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? Why is forgiveness so difficult? In Beyond Revenge, Michael E. McCullough argues that the key to creating a more forgiving world is to understand both the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in our minds today. Drawing on the latest breakthroughs in the social and biological sciences, McCullough offers practical and often surprising advice for how individuals, social groups, and even nations might move beyond our deep penchant for revenge.
As reviewed in Publishers Weekly:
"Schooling readers in the basics of natural selection, McCullough argues that despite popular belief that revenge is a disease, both revenge and forgiveness have been adaptive for our species. Acting as a chatty tour guide through a labyrinth of game theory and studies of human and animal behavior, he delineates the neurological, psychological, social, cultural, and religious mechanisms behind these choices. . . . Accessible but unsentimental, this book will appeal to all who wish to better understand forgiveness and how to engender it."
Michael E. McCullough is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology. His research is focused on moral sentiments like forgiveness and gratitude, and he also studies the evolutionary underpinnings and modern-day consequences of religious behavior.