APA Media Advisory
June 25, 2008
Contact: Audrey Hamilton
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5706

FOURTH OF JULY 2008: EXPERTS AVAILABLE TO DISCUSS THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PATRIOTISM

Jack Glaser, PhD, Assistant Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Glaser can talk about the differences between patriotism and nationalism and the psychology of voting. (According to Glaser, patriotism is the love of country while nationalism is the preference for one's country over others.)
Phone: (510) 642-3047
E-mail

Col. Thomas Kolditz, PhD, Professor & Head, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Kolditz can talk about the psychology of patriotism during wartime and what makes a good leader. He can also talk about the importance of patriotism when training leaders in other countries, such as Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
Phone: (845) 764-5378
E-mail

Peter Lamal, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Lamal can talk about how elections and current events affect patriotism. He can also speak about the effect cultural practices have on patriotic behavior.
Phone: (704) 509-1689
E-mail

Michael Maccoby, PhD, Corporate Consultant & Author, President, The Maccoby Group, Washington. Maccoby focuses on the personality traits of political leaders and how these leaders can have both a positive and negative effect on patriotism. He outlines these traits in his latest book, “The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow.” According to Maccoby, in order to mobilize patriotism, a country needs leaders whom people trust and are eager to follow.
Phone: (202) 895-8922
E-mail

Stephen Worchel, PhD, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences & Professor of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Hilo. Worchel can speak about issues of nationalism and ethnocentrism and how these relate to social identity, revolution and war. His work has involved many Eastern European countries as well as China and Israel, and he can provide a global perspective of patriotism.
E-mail

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 148,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.