by Lily Ng
When given two contradictory statements, people can respond in four different ways. They can deny the contradiction, discount the information that is contradictory, compare the information and decide which is right and which is wrong, or retain the basic elements of truth in both perspectives and tolerate the contradiction.
The acceptance of contradiction is known as dialectical thinking. Continue reading
by Christianna Gozzi
Anthropologist Douglas P. Fry debunks the commonly held belief that war is an inevitable force of human nature. Through his research of 87 internally-peaceful and 76 externally-peaceful societies around the globe, Fry makes a deeply compelling argument that war can be eradicated and peace maintained if society reorients itself on a few fronts. These include “enhancing crosscutting ties; recognizing interdependence; promoting new values, attitudes and beliefs; implementing overarching levels of governance; and expanding the use of conflict management mechanisms.” These factors must act in concert and require support at multiple levels of society. Continue reading
by Kyong Mazzaro and Peter Coleman
A search of the Thompson Reuters Web of Knowledge database on articles published in English since 2000 with “peace” in the their title reveals over forty terms distinguishing different types or aspects of peace. This is more than mere semantics; peace can differ by level (interpersonal to international to global peace), direction (internal and external peace), durability (from fragile to enduring peace), source or conditions (peace through coercion, democratic participation, economic incentive, etc.), type (negative, positive and promotive peace) and scope (local to global peace). However, arguably the most important type is sustainable peace. Continue reading
by Christine Webb
“New” wars in the Global South are characterized by their hybrid nature. They typically involve a variety of non-state actors, institutions, and stakeholders with equally varied motives and concerns, and highlight a chasm between modern and traditional approaches to conflict resolution. In fact, many contemporary large-scale violent conflicts are waged within societies where modern state-centric approaches to peacebuilding have proven ineffective. More traditional approaches, which evolve organically and are practiced within particular societies over long periods of time, provide for more customary processes of conflict prevention, transformation, and reconciliation. As such, they challenge us to confront the chasm, acknowledge the hybridity, and see their potential utility. Continue reading
by Roi Ben-Yehuda
In his book “In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong”, French-Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf argues that group violence is a consequence of over-simplified “tribal” identities and that its antidote lies in awareness/recognition of self complexity. He notes:
When one sees one’s own identity as made up of a number of allegiances, some linked to an ethnic past and others not, some linked to a religious tradition and others not; when one observes in oneself, in one’s origins and in the course one’s life has taken, a number of different confluences and contributions, of different mixtures and influences, some of them quite subtle or even incompatible with one another; then one enters into a different relationship both with other people and with one’s own “tribe.” It’s no longer a matter of just “them” and “us”. (31) Continue reading
by Nick Redding
Most who are familiar with the work of Morton Deutsch have read about his classic studies on cooperation and completion in teams. Deutsch, now professor emeritus at Teachers College, Columbia University, has devoted his life to grounding “big ideas” in conflict into fundamental and empirically sound theories and applications. Deutsch is perhaps best known in the world of conflict for his “Theory of Cooperation and Competition.” In short, this theory asserts that cooperation and competition are best understood as different types of interdependence between individuals in a team that is either positive (both parties win together) or negative (when one party wins the other loses). This is determined by the tasks, goals, rewards, and possible outcomes of the interdependence between individuals (will each person be rewarded for success or only a few?), and the actions of each individual in the team. Continue reading
by Regina Kim
Generally speaking, there are two types of people in this world – competitors and cooperators.
Not surprisingly, when a cooperator interacts with another cooperator in conflict, he cooperates with the other to reach an outcome that is beneficial to both of them. And when a competitor interacts with another competitor, she competes against the other to reach an outcome that is most beneficial to her.
But what happens when a cooperator meets a competitor? There’s bad news and good news. Continue reading
by Taly Harel-Marian
Emotions are the lifeblood of conflict. Yet they are notoriously understudied in our field. However, Stanley Schacter’s classic 1964 study has much to offer to our understanding of emotions in conflict.
Schacter set out to resolve a basic chicken-egg dispute in psychology: Which comes first with emotions – thinking or feeling? In other words, do people always know what they are feeling? Or do they need look for cues from others to understand their feelings? Continue reading
by Kyong Mazzaro
The effectiveness of international aid has been the subject of hundreds of empirical analyses. Its relationship with economic development, extreme poverty alleviation, sustainability, and conflict has determined the way in which enormous sums of money and resources are allocated each year- making it also a sensitive subject in the political arena.
Polarizing positions on the cost/benefits or positive or negative impacts of foreign aid are common, but the existing data is limited: it is mainly contained in the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) databases. Although the DAC provides comprehensive data on the flow of international aid by recipient, sector, and project, most of the aid literature on conflict and development has almost exclusively focused on aggregate country-level data. In other words, even though many conflicts are localized, information on specific aid projects is at the national level. This means that our understanding of the link between aid and conflict is murky at best. Continue reading
by Christianna Gozzi
Globalization is a result of human interaction in an increasingly complex world. It manifests today through international trade, technological networks, travel, multinational organizations and migration. There is an important relationship between conflict and globalization which warrants further exploration. Psychology is uniquely poised to take this on. Continue reading
