Psychologists mostly in North America explore the ways in which people make decisions about what is morally right and wrong, and how these decisions are influenced by internal psychological and external social and cultural forces. They cover basic issues and controversies; motivational and cognitive processes; developmental, personality, and clinical aspects; and good and evil in relation to morality, conflict, and violence. Among the topics are deontological dissonance and the consequentialist crutch, honest rationales for dishonest behavior, moral dimensions of trauma therapies, and the myth of pure evil and the true causes of violence. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)