Herbert C. Kelman

Herbert C. Kelman

Fellow: Awarded 1980
Field of Study: Psychology

Competition: US & Canada

Princeton University

Herbert C. Kelman is Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, and co-chair of the Middle East Seminar at Harvard University. He was the founding Director (1993-2003) of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. A pioneer in the development of interactive problem solving—an unofficial third-party approach to the resolution of international and intercommunal conflict—he has been engaged for nearly 40 years in efforts toward the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His writings on interactive problem solving received the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order in 1997. Other awards include the Socio-Psychological Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1956), the Kurt Lewin Memorial award (1973), the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (1981), the Austrian Medal of Honor for Science and Art First Class (1998), and the Socrates Prize for Mediation (2009).

Professor Kelman was one of the founders of the peace research movement in the 1950s and of the first journal in that field, Journal of Conflict Resolution. His book International Behavior: A Social-Psychological Analysis (editor and co-author, 1965) was generally regarded as the definitive text on the social psychology of international relations. His major publications also include A Time to Speak: On Human Values and Social Research (1968), and Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility (with V. Lee Hamilton, 1989).

 

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