WHAT:

For reporters covering aspects of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, these psychologists are available to discuss issues associated with gun violence, domestic terrorism, radicalization, hate crimes and coping with trauma after a mass shooting.

WHO:

Joel Dvoskin, PhD
Tucson, Arizona
Cell: (520) 906-0366
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.joeldvoskin.com/

Expertise: A clinical psychologist, Dvoskin can talk about risk and threat assessment, especially in regard to mass homicides. He can also talk in general about preventing gun deaths and how to talk to children in the wake of a mass shooting. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters in professional journals, including a number of articles that deal with treatment and risk assessment of people with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

Frank Farley, PhD
Philadelphia
Work Phone: (215) 204-6024
Home Phone: (215) 668-7581
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: Farley is the Laura H. Carnell professor of educational psychology at Temple University. His research focuses on extreme behaviors, including risk-taking, violence and terror. He has spoken to media on the psychological motives behind the Boston Marathon bombing, including the radicalization of the bombers, the Paris attacks and more. He is past president of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence and is a former president of the APA.

Eric Mankowski, PhD
Portland, Oregon
Work: (503) 725-3901
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: A professor of applied social and community psychology at Portland State University, Mankowski is a community and social psychologist, broadly interested in the relationship among individual, group and community functioning, especially in the area of mental health. He focuses on understanding how masculinity is socially constructed and how it is connected to violence, substance abuse and other health and social problems.

Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH
Baltimore
Office: (410) 955-0440
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: Webster is director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence. He is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on firearm policy and the prevention of gun violence. Webster co-edited the book “Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis” and has published numerous articles on youth gun acquisition, adolescent violence prevention, intimate partner violence and sensible firearm policy.

Fathali M. Moghaddam, PhD
Washington, D.C,
Work: (202) 687-3642
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: A professor of psychology and director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science at Georgetown University, he is also editor-in-chief of the APA journal Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. He is the originator of "The Staircase to Terrorism" model and his research focuses on the cognitive processes underlying radicalization, democracy, and dictatorship. His most recent books include "Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes" and "Threat to Democracy: The Appeal of Authoritarianism in an Age of Uncertainty."

Arie W. Kruglanski, PhD
College Park, Maryland
Work:(301) 405-5918
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: Distinguished university professor in psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Kruglanski has studied individual, organized and suicide terrorism, as well as the processes of radicalization and deradicalization. In 2005, with support from the Department of Homeland Security, he co-founded the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. His research involves studies of extremism and content analyses of terrorists’ messaging. He is the lead author on two books on radicalization “The Three Pillars of Radicalization: Needs, Narratives and Networks” and “Radicals’ Journey: German NeoNazis Voyage to the Edge and Back” (forthcoming this fall).

Clark McCauley
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Cell: (610) 420-7118
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: McCauley is a professor of psychology and co-director of the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at Bryn Mawr College. His research interests include the psychology of group identification, group dynamics and intergroup conflict, and the psychological foundations of ethnic conflict and genocide. He is founding editor of the journal Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways toward Terrorism and Genocide. McCauley can discuss the role of emotions (such as disgust, humiliation and anger) in intergroup conflict and the process of radicalization that leads individuals from support for terrorism to acts of terrorism

Karen Franklin, PhD
El Cerrito, California
Work: (510) 232-1920
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.karenfranklin.com

Expertise: A forensic psychologist, Franklin was one of the first researchers to study hate crime offenders to determine their motivations and has written about factors motivating home-grown terrorists and extremists.

James Jones, PhD
Newark, Delaware
Cell: (302) 598-2379
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: Jones is a professor of psychological and brain sciences and director of the Center for the Study of Diversity at the University of Delaware. Jones' first book, “Prejudice and Racism,” was published in 1972, and the second edition in 1997. It still stands as a classic analysis of race, class and culture in psychology. He served on the American Bar Association Task Force on the impact of Stand Your Ground laws on black and Latino communities.

Daniel J. Mosley, EdD, PC
Seattle
Cell: (303) 905-4575
E-mail: [email protected]

Expertise: Mosley is a licensed psychologist in Colorado and Washington. He has been a volunteer with the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health services for more than 20 years. He has responded to numerous disasters including mass shootings (e.g., Columbine high school, Aurora movie theater and Las Vegas), wildfires, floods and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Red Cross frequently calls upon him to direct/manage the mental health response to these disasters.

Susan Silk, PhD
Southfield, Michigan
Work: (248) 350-9890
Cell: (248) 320-0608
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: Silk is a disaster mental health volunteer and trainer for the American Red Cross and has responded to hurricanes (Andrew, George, Katrina), flooding (Mississippi, Northern California), airplane accidents, (Detroit, Guam), earthquakes (Loma Prieta, Northridge, Seattle), terrorism (Oklahoma City, 9/11) and school shootings (Virginia Tech).

Robin H. Gurwitch, PhD
Durham, North Carolina
Cell: (405) 659-9513
Email: [email protected]

Expertise: A professor and clinical psychologist at Duke University Medical Center and the Center for Child and Family Health, Gurwitch has worked with numerous national organizations, including APA, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and the American Red Cross, on information and materials to assist parents and other caregivers to help children deal with traumatic events.

Suzan Stafford, EdD 
Washington, D.C.
Cell: (202) 236-6849
Email: [email protected]t

Expertise: A retired private practitioner, Stafford is a longtime responder to disasters, including the 9/11 Pentagon attack and the 2013 Washington Navy Yard shooting.

Charles Figley, PhD
New Orleans
Cell: (504) 862-3473
Work: (850) 644-9598
Email: [email protected] (preferred method of contact)
Website: www.charlesfigley.com

Expertise: Figley is the Paul Henry Kurzweg distinguished chair in disaster mental health and a professor in disaster mental health at Tulane University. His research focuses on disaster-related distress and recovery, post-traumatic stress reactions in victims and compassion fatigue among those who work with and regularly bear witness to suffering.

The American Psychological Association also has useful resources available on its website, including:

•    Can discrimination contribute to feelings of radicalization?
•    Why do some radical views become terrorists while others don't?
•    Mutual Radicalization: How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremes
•    Social Movements and Political and Social Transformation
•    Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy (an expert panel report)
•    APA resolution on gun violence prevention
•    Warning signs of youth violence
•    Helping children manage distress in the aftermath of a shooting
•    Managing your distress in the aftermath of a mass shooting
•    How to talk to children about difficult news and tragedies
•    How much news coverage is OK for children?

 

 

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 118,400 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 the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.

 

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