Hysteria, Witch Hunts, And Whistle Blowers‪.‬

ANATOL RAPOPORT is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the author of many books on decision theory, conflict, general system theory, and the philosophy of science. Suspicion is a natural and necessary survival instinct that helps us define ourselves as individuals and as societies; heaven help the human being or community that is totally ingenuous. But frequently in human history - and alarmingly often in the twentieth century - suspicion has reached a fever pitch in what we have come to know as the "witch hunt," perhaps the ugliest manifestation of the human character. How odd, then, that our species' suspicious nature is also the driving force when we are at our best - when individuals defy the powers that be in the name of all humanity.