Gandhi and the Psychology of Nonviolence, Volume 1: Scientific Roots and Development

The first of two volumes, this book examines Gandhi’s contribution to an understanding of the scientific and evolutionary basis of the psychology of nonviolence, through the lens of contemporary researches on human cognition, empathy, morality and self-control.
While, psychological science has focused on those participants that delivered electric shocks in Professor Stanley Milgram’s famous experiments, these books begin from the premise that we have neglected to fully explore why the other participants walked away. Building on emergent research in the psychology of self control and wisdom, the authors illustrate what Gandhi’s life and work offers to our understanding of these subjects who disobeyed and defied Milgram.

The authors analyze Gandhi’s actions and philosophy, as well as original interviews with his contemporaries, to elaborate a modern scientific psychology of nonviolence from the principles he enunciated and which were followed so successfully in his Satyagrahas. Gandhi, they argue, was a practical psychologist from whom we can derive a science of nonviolence which, as Volume 2 will illustrate, can be applied to almost every subfield of psychology, but particularly to those addressing the most urgent issues of the 21st century.

This book is the result of four decades of collaborative work between the authors. It marks a unique contribution to studies of both Gandhi and the current trends in psychological research that will appeal in particular to scholars of social change, peace studies and peace psychology, and, serve as an exemplar in teaching one of modern psychology’s hitherto neglected perspectives.


V. K. Kool is Emeritus Professor of Psychology, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, USA. Author of seven books, including The Psychology of Nonviolence and Aggression (2008) and recipient of three Fulbright awards, Kool was member of the Editorial Board of APA’s Peace Division journal,Peace and Conflict, for seven years.

Rita Agrawal is Director and Professor at the Faculty of Management and Technology, Harish Chandra Post Graduate College, India. She is the author of five books, including Stress in Life and at Work (2001), and Psychology of Technology (2016 with Kool), and has been the recipient of both national and international awards.