bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Conflict, Culture of
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel
Published: November 2011

Societies involved in harsh and violent conflicts such as intractable conflict evolve with time a sociopsychological repertoire that includes a well organized system of societal beliefs, attitudes, and emotions that fulfills a crucial role in meeting the challenges that such conflict poses. It facilitates adaptation to the conditions of conflict, enables coping with stressful and threatening conditions that accompany this type of conflict, and helps to withstand the enemy. This repertoire, which crystallizes into collective memories of conflict, ethos of conflicts, and collective emotional orientation, pertains to a number of crucial themes in times of conflict. It justifies the outbreak of the conflict and the course of its development, delegitimizes the rival, glorifies one's own group and presents it as the victim of the conflict, encourages mobilization for the conflict, and sets security and patriotism as highly desirable values (Bar‐Tal, 2007).
Conflict, Escalation and De‐escalation of
Authors: Pruitt Dean G.
Published: November 2011

Conflict is said to escalate when one or both parties (individuals, groups, organizations, or states) shift(s) to more extreme tactics — complaining instead of requesting changes, shouting instead of complaining, shooting instead of shouting. In organizations, escalation usually takes subtler forms, such as slowdowns, sabotage, and theft (Pruitt, 2007). Escalation sometimes has positive consequences. Selective escalation may signal the relative importance of certain issues in the conflict, thus fostering agreements in which both parties satisfy their high priority needs. The shock value of escalation may encourage information gathering, problem solving, and rethinking of activities or policies, which can lead to needed social change. However, escalation is often harmful, especially when it is severe. Many escalated behaviors are directly injurious — sabotage, theft, shooting. Escalation may also lead to ill‐feeling and a breakdown in relationships. In addition, it can crowd out problem solving by encouraging strategic rather than integrative thinking.
Conflict, Intractable
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel
Published: November 2011

The fact that dangerous conflicts rage continuously in various parts of the world reflects a component of the human intergroup repertoire. Vicious conflicts in Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and the Middle East are examples of severe violent confrontations that threaten the well‐being of the peoples involved and the international community. These conflicts are over real issues like territories, natural resources, self‐determination, statehood, religious dogmas, and/or basic values and it is these real issues that have to be addressed in conflict resolution. However, the fact that they are accompanied by intense psychological dynamics makes it especially difficult to resolve them. These psychological dynamics are especially prominent in intractable conflicts, which are violent and perceived as irreconcilable because they concern essential and existential goals that clash (Bar‐Tal, 2007; Coleman, 2003; Vallacher, Coleman, Nowak, & Bui‐Wrzosinska, 2010).
Conflicts, Constructive
Authors: Kriesberg Louis
Published: November 2011

Significantly, conflicts vary along a multidimensional continuum ranging from highly constructive to highly destructive. Conflicts are not necessarily conducted only by adversaries inflicting harm on each other and with one side gaining only at the expense of the other side. After discussing possible alternatives, the processes and factors shaping variations in conflicts are analyzed. Finally, strategies that foster constructive conflict are examined.
Constructive Controversy
Authors: Johnson David W. , Johnson Roger T.
Published: November 2011

To establish and maintain peace, individuals need to engage in collective decision‐making about complex and critical problems. Such collective decision‐making is known as political discourse (Johnson & Johnson, 2000). Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the other founders of the American Republic considered political discourse to be the heart of democracy. The clash of opposing positions was expected to increase citizens' understanding of the issues and the quality of decision‐making, given that citizens would keep an open mind and change their opinions when logically persuaded to do so. In order to be educated to be a citizen in a democracy students need to be educated for a culture of argument, that is, political discourse. Political discourse is the heart of democracy. Instead of the social rank within which a person is born, the basis of influence within a democratic society should be a free and open discussion characterized by conflict between ideas and opinions. The purposes of political discourse include (1) clarifying citizens' understanding of the issue, (2) helping citizens reach their best reasoned judgment as to which course of action will solve a problem, (3) increasing citizen participation in the political process, and (4) socializing the next generation into the procedures and attitudes they need to be active citizens. Constructive controversy is an instructional procedure to teach students how to engage in political discourse to make decisions about community and societal issues. Constructive controversy has been used in Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and the United States (Johnson & Johnson, 2010).
Contact Theory, Intergroup
Authors: Tropp Linda R.
Published: November 2011

Intergroup contact theory proposes that intergroup prejudice can be reduced when members of different groups interact with each other under optimal conditions. Allport (1954) developed what has become the most influential statement of intergroup contact theory, stating that prejudice will be reduced when the contact situation embodies four primary conditions: (1) equal status between groups; (2) common goals; (3) cooperation between groups; and (4) support of institutional authorities, law, or custom. Rather than being thought of as independent factors, these conditions are typically conceived of as interrelated factors that function jointly to reduce intergroup prejudice. For example, efforts to establish equal status between groups in the contact situation can be bolstered by institutional authorities who support norms of equality and offer guidance regarding how members of different groups should treat each other. Similarly, encouraging groups to cooperate should involve some degree of interdependence, such that members of these groups must work together, and rely on each other, in order to achieve their shared goals.
Cooperative Learning
Authors: Johnson David W. , Johnson Roger T.
Published: November 2011

Peace may be conceptualized as having two separate dimensions (Johnson & Johnson, 2006): the first involves ending violence and hostilities in ways all parties believe are desirable, legitimate, just, and beneficial, and the second establishing relationships based on harmonious interaction aimed at achieving mutual goals, justly distributing mutual benefits (i.e., a desirable common fate), mutual dependence on each other's resources, and a mutual identity. In order to build and maintain peace, individuals must understand how to form and to sustain cooperative efforts.
Critical Security Studies
Authors: Booth Ken
Published: November 2011

The emergence of critical security studies (CSS) since the late 1980s has posed a significant challenge to the dominant understanding of security in academic international relations (IR). The traditional orthodoxy rested on varieties of realist theory embedded most powerfully in US academic departments of IR and think‐tanks; the challenge has come mainly from Western European universities. There is a great deal at stake: not only is the concept of security central to IR, but the practice of security has significant implications for the lives of real people in real places. Ultimately, “global realities” (like international security) are the products of collective human consciousness about how we might live globally.
Cultural Carriers
Authors: Warren Zachary , Moghaddam Fathali M.
Published: November 2011

Cultural carriers are powerful vehicles of meaning that influence continuity and change in human societies (Moghaddam, 2002). Cultural carriers can be objects, political figures, practices, and concepts that preserve or “carry” certain normative meanings over time. Often, cultural carriers sustain continuity through times of political, economic, and legal change; examples being the Islamic veil, and the American national flag. Cultural carriers wield power informally in everyday life, influencing “subjective justice,” as well as in formal institutions, influencing “black letter law.” The concept has been used to explain the paradox of revolution, where revolutionary political change fails to bring about expected changes in aspects of everyday life, or vice versa, such as when grassroots movements fail to affect macrolevel institutional change (Moghaddam, 2008a). Revolutionaries rise to power, only to maintain and often wield their power effectively the same way as the elites they overthrew. This paradox of continuity is perhaps best epitomized by the expression, “The more things change, the more things stay the same.”
Culture of Peace
Authors: de Rivera Joseph
Published: November 2011

A culture of peace is usually contrasted with the culture of war that pervades so much of modern society. However, there are three different referents for the term. It may be used to refer to (1) the cultures of peoples who do not engage in warfare, murder, rape, and other forms of physical violence, or (2) the ideal of a global culture of peace that can replace the current system of domination with a culture of cooperation for sustainable development, or (3) the culture of peace that actually exists within current societies, a culture encouraging people to transform those aspects that reflect a culture of war. Each of these referents is discussed below.
Decision‐Making, the Role of Emotions in Foreign Policy
Authors: Renshon Jonathan , Lerner Jennifer S.
Published: November 2011

Long viewed as an obstacle to be overcome in the pursuit of pure rationality, emotions are now widely recognized as a critical part of the decision‐making process. As a result, any complete account of foreign policy decision‐making must account for how and when emotions impact political decision‐making. Facing difficult issues and multiple constituencies on a daily basis, political decision‐makers operate in an environment of near‐constant time pressure and stress. How they process information and make judgments involves a complex interplay between affective and cognitive factors. In this article, we present a framework for understanding the different ways in which emotions can enter into the decision‐making process and the differential effects of key emotions.
Delegitimization
Authors: Bar‐Tal Daniel , Oren Neta
Published: November 2011

One of the major psychological mechanisms responsible for much of the observed evil intergroup behaviors beginning with discrimination, through exploitation, slavery, mass killing, ethnic cleansing, and genocide is delegitimization of another group. Many scientists have observed the importance of this mechanism and labeled it in various ways: downgrading, devaluation, dehumanization, infrahumanization, and so on (e.g., Kelman, 1973). It is suggested that delegitimization is the term that well describes the scope and the nature of this mechanism. It is defined as the categorization of a group or groups into extremely negative social categories that exclude it or them from the sphere of human groups that act within the limits of acceptable norms and/or values (Bar‐Tal, 1990). In other words, being an extreme type of negative stereotyping, this categorization aims to deny humanity to another group and tries to push it beyond the boundaries of the accepted groups within the humane category. This aim always serves a desire, wish, intention, and course of action that are negative in their nature and that harm the other group or groups (Oren & Bar‐Tal, 2007).
Deprovincialization
Authors: Pettigrew Thomas F.
Published: November 2011

Provincialism refers to being unsophisticated and centered in one's own small world. One judges other people and cultures negatively, simply because they are different from your ingroup and culture. The term developed to describe one who lives in the provinces and is oblivious to the ways of the broader, outside world. The phenomenon is of interest to social psychologists because it is often involved in the development of prejudice against and negative stereotypes of other groups — basic elements at the psychological level of intergroup conflict. This link is especially strong when encounters with other groups and cultures are threatening. And provincial people are more easily threatened by new and strange experiences.
Desegregation
Authors: Schofield Janet Ward
Published: November 2011

Desegregation refers to the elimination of racial segregation especially when the segregation was due to law rather than social custom, although the term is sometimes applied in both situations. The term is most commonly used to refer to changes occurring in the United States as a result of the civil rights movement in the 1950s. The roughly 4 million slaves in the United States at the time of the Civil War (1861–1865), the vast majority of whom were of African descent, were freed in 1865. For a little more than a decade after that, various laws were passed to protect their rights. However, in the late 1870s the pendulum swung in the other direction and a set of laws, called Jim Crow laws, was passed in the southern states where slavery had been common. These laws mandated racial segregation in virtually all aspects of life, including public accommodations, places of work, and educational institutions. The Jim Crow laws were legitimated in 1896 by the US Supreme Court'sPlessy v. Fergusondecision which declared that “separate but equal” facilities for Whites and African Americans were legal. However, although equal facilities were theoretically provided in segregated situations, in reality those provided for African Americans were generally vastly inferior to those provided for Whites.
Dialogue Methods
Authors: Tint Barbara S.
Published: November 2011

Dialogue is a group process utilized in a range of contexts to address a multiplicity of issues related to interpersonal and intergroup relations. At its most fundamental, dialogue refers to a process where parties come together with the goal of increased mutual understanding. It is distinct from other forms of group interactions in its intention, goals, structure, and process, which are designed to elicit safety, understanding, learning, and often healing and transformational shifts in conflicted contexts. Dialogue has often been used as a peacebuilding tool in conflicted societies and recent decades have shown an increase in the use of structured dialogue as a means of addressing intergroup conflict and long‐standing communal issues. Today, in fractious communities worldwide, dialogue is employed at different stages of societal fissures to increase understanding between parties and to create possibilities for relational transformation.
Diffusion of Responsibility
Authors: Guerin Bernard
Published: November 2011

Diffusion of responsibility appeared as a term in social psychology papers written in the early 1960s, perhaps first by Wallach, Kogan, and Bem (1964). It refers to the idea that, in some contexts, individuals within a group are less (or report feeling less) responsible for actions that occur than if they had done the same action outside the group by themselves. In broad terms, there are fewer consequences to any one person in a group from what that group does than if an individual person had done the action alone.
Discourse Theory and Peace
Authors: Karlberg Michael
Published: November 2011

The term
discourse theory
encompasses a diverse set of insights, assumptions, and concepts that have emerged across a range of disciplines in recent decades. Discourse theory generally derives from the “linguistic turn” in the humanities and social sciences that traces back to the work of influential figures such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Michel Foucault (Rorty, 1992). Most approaches to discourse theory rest on the underlying premise that language, and language use, do not merely reflect or represent our social and mental realities, but they actually help construct or constitute these realities.
Discrimination
Authors: Duncan Norman
Published: November 2011

There can be no denying that discrimination significantly compromises the well‐being, health, schooling, career, and other life opportunities of various groups of people globally. It also has the potential to significantly undermine social harmony and cohesion. Discrimination is most frequently defined as the verbal and nonverbal social acts and processes that result in adverse or prejudicial consequences for members of certain social groups. Insofar as discrimination is defined here as referring to acts and processes that are social in nature, the forms of discrimination that will constitute the focus of attention in the ensuing pages are those forms of discrimination that are perpetrated by people as members of certain ingroups against other people because of their perceived membership of certain outgroups.
Do No Harm
Authors: Long Jancis
Published: November 2011

“Do no harm” is the most famous phrase of the Hippocratic Oath, a statement of medical ethics written by physicians in the school of Hippocrates (the so‐called Father of Medicine) in Greece around 400BCE: “I will use regimens for the benefit of the ill in accordance with my ability and judgment, but from what is to their harm or injustice I will keep them.” The awareness of the ancient oath that healing professions carry responsibilities for competent use of their particular knowledge, that the work itself carries dangers of doing unintentional harm, being unjust, exploiting clients, and conferring special skills that can be used for deliberate cruelty, make its principles relevant to settings where peace psychologists may have key roles. Education, law, government, unions, the military, business administration, and other professional enterprises all consult with psychologists at times on issues of ethics, conflict, and outside pressures to reform. Some employ psychologists for assistance to employees (e.g., the military) or clients (e.g., education) and also turn to them for help when destructive conflicts arise.
Dynamical Systems Theory: Applications to Peace and Conflict
Authors: Vallacher Robin , Coleman Peter T. , Nowak Andrzej
Published: November 2011

All conflicts operate as dynamical systems. In complexity science, a dynamical system is a set of interconnected elements that influence one another over time to promote the emergence of a global state (such as war or peace), which in turn provides common meaning for the elements. In social conflict, the elements are specific thoughts, actions, and feelings relevant to the conflict, and the emergent higher‐order state is a generalized negative (or positive) view of the relationship and a readiness for like action (cf. Coleman, Vallacher, Nowak, & Bui‐Wrzosinska, 2007). Within this perspective, the proximate causes of intractable conflict (e.g., competition over scarce resources, ideological differences, protection of personal or group identity) mask a more fundamental tendency for the parties to the conflict to become locked into a destructive pattern of thought and action that resists change. This basic dynamic — the press for higher‐order coherence — provides a new perspective on conflict resolution: Rather than trying to solve the issues in dispute, peacemakers should focus on how to transform the system from the ensemble of dynamics perpetuating the conflict to a different coherent state that allows for benign (or positive) relations between the parties.
Ecological Model
Authors: Ashy Majed A.
Published: November 2011

The ecological model, developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) and later refined by Belsky (1993), is a model that takes into account variables influencing behavior on four levels of analyses. According to Bronfenbrenner, the individual/developmental level includes biological/genetic factors, gender, age, personality, cognition, and emotional characteristics. These variables are embedded within the microsystem level which includes the individual's proximal social environment such as family members. In turn, the microsystem variables are located within the exosystem‐level variables that include experiences within the community. Finally, the exosystem‐level variables function within the macrosystem‐level variables that include broad national and cultural forces. From the ecological model perspective, these variables interact in multidirectional ways to influence human behavior.
Emotional Orientation, Collective
Authors: Halperin Eran , Bar‐Tal Daniel
Published: November 2011

In recent decades social psychologies — as well as other disciplines such as political science and sociology — have shifted their focus from pure cognitive research to a more integrative perspective, which combines aspects of cognition and emotion. This development took place as a result of recognition that emotions constitute a central element of the human repertoire and the study of their functioning is a prerequisite for the understanding of individual and collective behaviors. Furthermore, scholars who study international relations and ethnic conflicts have long recognized the central role played by emotions in conflict eruption, escalation, de‐escalation, resolution, and reconciliation, though empirical work on emotional effects was relatively rare until the last two decades. Although short‐term, personal experiences of emotions can be highly influential in intergroup conflicts, of special interest is the role of long‐term, collective emotional phenomena in these conflicts. More specifically, they are best represented in the nature and the functioning of collective emotional orientation in intergroup conflicts (Bar‐Tal, 2001; Bar‐Tal, Halperin, & de‐Rivera, 2007).
Empathy
Authors: Wagner Richard V.
Published: November 2011

Empathy is a core concept in the peace psychological analysis of conflict, and in prescriptions for the resolution of conflict. History suggests that foreign policymakers ignore the importance of empathy at their peril. Robert McNamara considered
realistic
empathy to be “Lesson No. 1” from his experience as US secretary of state in the 1960s (Blight & Lang, 2004). In the documentary
The Fog of War,
McNamara acknowledges that his failure to understand the perspective of the North Vietnamese led him to the erroneous conclusion that US military strength could so devastate North Vietnam that the government would capitulate and the United States would prevail. He failed to recognize the Vietnamese perspective, namely, that the United States was just another foreign power determined to dominate Vietnam; the Vietnamese had successfully ousted the previous colonizers — the French — and were confident they would outlast any US presence in their country. McNamara's inability to “put himself in the Vietnamese shoes” resulted in policies that led ultimately to US withdrawal a decade later.
Empathy, Ethnocultural
Authors: Suffla Shahnaaz , Kimmel Paul
Published: November 2011

Although defined and operationalized in a multitude of ways in the psychological literature, most researchers, theorists, and practitioners agree that empathy is a primary means of facilitating interpersonal understanding, and therefore critical to all human relationships. Within a given culture, empathy is frequently examined in terms of its cognitive/intellectual and affective/emotional components. However, a growing critique of the assumptions embedded in these traditional conceptualizations of empathy has underscored the need for intercultural research, theorizing, and practice that is responsive to the wider context of human experience. Much of this critique calls for an expanded orientation that recognizes the importance of culture as a frame of reference through which individuals encounter the world, themselves, and each other. Attention to this wider context in psychology has grown with increasing ethnic and cultural diversification of populations within and across countries and concerns about violent conflicts among these populations. This essay focuses on empathy between individuals from different cultures and ethnicities, referred to here as ethnocultural empathy.
Empathy in the Process of Forgiveness
Authors: Wertheim Eleanor H.
Published: November 2011

An emerging topic in peace psychology over the past two decades has been that of forgiveness and the processes that lead to forgiving another party after a hurtful offense. Forgiveness becomes relevant when one party (person or group) perceives another as having perpetrated a hurtful offense, wrong action, or “transgression.” Forgiveness can be seen as a process of setting aside negative emotions, thoughts and behaviors, or motivations of avoidance or revenge towards a transgressor, and transforming them into more positive emotions, thoughts, motivations, and possibly behaviors.
Ethnocentrism
Authors: Kessler Thomas , Fritsche Immo
Published: November 2011

William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) was the first to describe and conceptualize ethnocentrism in his 1906 book,
Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals
. Ethnocentrism has been frequently used as a concept to explain ingroup favoritism, prejudice, and intergroup conflict in various disciplines including psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, and evolutionary biology.
Evolutionary Psychology
Authors: Paquette Daniel
Published: November 2011

Evolutionary psychology focuses specifically on the evolution of the human mind. It has adopted as its own the basic theories of sociobiology, which itself is the product of the integration of ethology, ecology (population dynamics), and neo‐Darwinism. Ethology is the descriptive, causal, and comparative study of the behavior of animals (including humans) in their natural environment. Like psychology, ethology focuses as much on the external causes (trigger stimuli) as on the internal causes (nervous and endocrine mechanisms) of behavior, as well as on postconception development (ontogenesis). However, it analyzes animal and human behavior essentially from an evolutionary perspective. Ethology is thus also and primarily interested in so‐called distal or ultimate causes – that is to say, the evolution of behaviors in species over generations (phylogeny), and the biological functions of behaviors (i.e., their adaptive or survival value to individuals). Like organs, behavior is a means of adaptation to the environment and evolves primarily through the mechanism of natural selection (Darwin, 1859). Natural selection is the mechanism by which those individuals who have adapted least to the conditions of their environment (due to hereditary characteristics they may in turn pass on to their descendents) reproduce less than better adapted individuals. Over generations (i.e., thousands of years), differential reproduction and mortality ensure that certain characteristics become more widespread than others in a population. The discovery of the laws of heredity (Mendel) and molecular biology in the 20th century clarified the role of natural selection without fundamentally questioning it. Similarly, the work of certain anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists concerning the concept of cultural selection (culturally transmissible traits also offering reproductive advantages) has also contributed to our thinking about the mechanisms of human evolution.
Forgiveness, Intergroup
Authors: Swart Hermann , Hewstone Miles
Published: November 2011

Memories of past events and conflicts often remain inextricably woven into the fabric of the present in the lives of both victims and perpetrators living in post‐conflict societies. Interpersonal forgiveness is important in the process of repairing the relationship between individuals previously in conflict. An act of interpersonal forgiveness allows the victim to let go of their feelings of anger and hurt felt towards the perpetrator and, in essence, cancels the “debt” owed on the part of the perpetrator. The victim thereby gives up their right to revenge, which allows the victim and the perpetrator to work towards repairing their relationship.
Forgiveness, Interpersonal
Authors: Paloutzian Raymond F. , Kalayjian Ani
Published: November 2011

The twentieth century saw no fewer than 80 million people killed due to war, genocide, massacre, and other acts of violence. The twenty‐first century began with global jihad and more of the same destructive behaviors. When will it end? Forgiveness and reconciliation may be among the most difficult behaviors required of people, but an increasing number of scholars, practitioners, and leaders are beginning to think that without forgiveness and reconciliation the future of humans looks bleak. The complexities involved in bringing vast numbers of people and governments to adopt and practice forgiveness and reconciliation as priorities over grudge‐holding and reprisal are daunting. The challenge is to demonstrate to people and governments that forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace are of value and in their self‐interest. The vision of peace is big; steps small and large must be taken. Tutu (1999) bluntly stated in the title to one of his books:
No future without forgiveness
.
Gangs and Political Violence, Children and Youth Involvement in
Authors: Kostelny Kathleen
Published: November 2011

Worldwide, young people are impacted by both gang and political violence. Although gang violence and political violence have different origins and are typically analyzed separately, this article focuses on their similarities and areas of overlap in order to emphasize the similarity of impact on young people's lives and the forces which build cultures of violence. Whether in zones affected by gang violence or political violence, children and youth are witnesses and victims. They are also prominent actors. In order to build cultures of peace, children and youth must be given alternative nonviolent options and socialized for peace.
Gender and Terrorism
Authors: Najam Najma
Published: November 2011

It is well documented that the world's active combat forces have been almost all male. With the exception of the legends of Amazons, there have been no known formal female fighting forces. History does record women such as Joan of Arc (France), Jhansi ki Rani, Razia Sultana (Indian subcontinent), and more recently Phoolan Devi (India) who led fighting forces comprised of men, but these are a rare occurrence. Similarly, in the last few decades, more men than women have been involved and are visible in acts of terrorism, including suicide attacks across Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Bosnia, Palestine, Turkey, Chechnya, and elsewhere (barring Russia, where women have been active and quite visible).
Gender‐Based Violence
Authors: Simic Olivera
Published: November 2011

For a long time, gender‐based violence (GBV) has been viewed as a private or family matter. Over the last two decades there has been a shift in thinking about GBV, and it is now viewed as a societal problem, primarily as a human rights violation and public health problem. Although GBV is often interchangeably used with “sexual violence” and “violence against women,” it is useful to distinguish GBV from other forms of violence. GBV is a deliberately broad term in order to recognize the gendered elements in nearly all forms of violence against women and girls, whether it is perpetrated through sexual violence or through other means.
Girls in Armed Groups
Authors: McKay Susan
Published: November 2011

Throughout the world, girls — internationally defined as females up to 18 years of age — participate in armed opposition groups. Their presence in these groups, usually covert, has become widely recognized during the past decade and investigated by scholars and nongovernmental groups such as Save the Children, World Vision, and ChildFund (Denov, 2008, 2010; McKay 2005, 2006; McKay & Mazurana, 2004; Wessells, 2006). Although we have had reports since 1990 of girls' participation in armed forces (government militaries) and armed opposition groups in more than 55 countries (McKay & Mazurana, 2004), they remain overlooked. Because so many armed opposition groups in sub‐Saharan African conflicts depend upon girls to build and maintain the infrastructure of military groups through their productive and reproductive work, this discussion focuses upon this geographic region. However, throughout the world, girls carry out similar support functions.
Groupthink
Authors: Mayton Daniel M. , Zachary Brink M.
Published: November 2011

Sometimes groups make good decisions. Sometimes their decisions are disastrous. While reading about the poor decision‐making that led to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Irving Janis (1982) began to develop the concept of groupthink. Asking how could so many smart people make stupid decisions when placed in groups, Janis analyzed policymakers and their processes of decision‐making in many different instances. He proposed the Orwellian‐like term groupthink in 1972 to describe a particular ailment of policymaking groups. Janis defined groupthink as “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive ingroup, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” (p. 9). Groupthink is further characterized by “a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from ingroup pressures” (p. 9).
Hetero‐Referentiality and Divided Societies
Authors: Sen Ragini
Published: November 2011

It has been observed that events, as represented in groups, form a narrative network that informs the actions, cognitions, and affects of their holders. Antagonistic groups, politically inspired events, and the derivative interpretations following from their narratives, generally help create hetero‐referential situations. Each group's representation is validated by, and indeed depends on, the respective antagonistic representation of the other group.
Human Needs Theory, Conflict, and Peace
Authors: Danesh H. B.
Published: November 2011

Although the concepts of human needs, conflict, and peace are interrelated and affect all aspects of human life, academics and practitioners have usually addressed them in a rather fragmented manner. Human needs theories propose that all humans have certain basic universal needs and that when these are not met conflict is likely to occur. Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs beginning with the need for food, water, and shelter followed by the need for safety and security, then belonging or love, self‐esteem and, finally, personal fulfillment and self‐actualization. Later in his life Maslow (1973) proposed self‐transcendence as a need above self‐actualization in the hierarchy of needs.
Human Rights and Human Rights Violations, Psychological Aspects of
Authors: Stellmacher Jost , Sommer Gert
Published: November 2011

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted on December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations is the major reference document for international human rights. The UDHR and the subsequent International Covenants on Human Rights of 1966 (on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights) represent the International Bill of Human Rights. In these documents, two generations or dimensions of human rights have been distinguished. The first dimension consists of civil and political human rights, for example the prohibition of discrimination, the right to life, the prohibition of torture or inhuman treatment, the right to freedom of thought, of opinion and expression, the right to seek asylum. The second dimension is made up of economic, social, and cultural human rights, for example the right to work, protection against unemployment, the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to remuneration ensuring an existence worthy of human dignity, the right to a standard of living adequate for one's health and well‐being, including food, housing, and medical care, and the right to education. In addition, a third generation of human rights has been discussed in the United Nations but not yet adopted. It includes mainly the right of peoples to peace, the right to development, and the right to a healthy environment.
Humanitarian Military Intervention, Support for
Authors: McFarland Sam G.
Published: November 2011

When world leaders gathered for the United Nations World Summit in September 2005 they adopted a new policy called “responsibility to protect.” This policy committed the UN to protecting populations that are threatened with genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing when their national government cannot or will not do so. In dire situations, and when lesser methods cannot succeed, the responsibility to protect obligates the UN or a designated regional group (e.g., NATO, the African Union) to enter a country with military force to protect people from these horrible crimes.
Humanitarian Workers, Managing Stress in
Authors: Allan Amanda , Haslam Nick
Published: November 2011

Humanitarian workers are people who work in theaters of humanitarian crisis that may have been instigated by natural environmental disasters, famine, conflict, or epidemics. These events invariably threaten the homes, livelihoods, safety, security, health, well‐being, and fabric of the community of large groups of people. The role of a humanitarian worker is to alleviate suffering and to save lives.
Ideology
Authors: Jost John T. , Andrews Rick
Published: November 2011

The term ideology refers to a network or system of interrelated beliefs, values, and opinions held by an individual or a group; they are typically (but by no means always) of a political nature. Generally, an ideology contains assumptions about how the social and political world
is
and how it
ought
to be. “Ideology” has come to be used in both a value‐neutral sense, referring to virtually any symbolic or abstract meaning system, and also in a more critical sense to refer to a system of beliefs or ideas that are systematically distorted, so as to conceal or misrepresent certain social interests or realities.
Interfaith Dialogue
Authors: Noor Noraini M.
Published: November 2011

Interfaith dialogue as a contemporary movement can be traced back to the decision of some churches at the beginning of the twentieth century to extend cooperation and build relations with non‐Christians. This initiative came from the Christian missionaries’ need to adapt to conditions of work in Asia, and the first few world missionary conferences (Edinburgh in 1910, Jerusalem in 1928, and Tambaram, India, in 1938) paved the way for the initial discussions. But the Christians remained divided on how they should approach other religions.
International Relations, Psychological Perspectives on
Authors: Stein Janice Gross
Published: November 2011

Psychological explanations of international politics focus on the impact of cognition and emotion on choice. Through the analysis of decision‐making, political psychologists have explored a wide range of topics that are central to international politics: the onset of war, nuclear strategy, deterrence and reassurance, signaling and bargaining, conflict management and conflict resolution, and peace. Recent neuroscientific research on emotion is changing the analysis of foreign policy decision‐making and rational choice. This essay looks first at psychological theories of decision‐making. Second, it examines the consequences of new understandings of decision‐making for strategic models of interaction. Third, the essay looks at the contribution of psychological explanations to the analysis of collective beliefs and moods on international political issues.
Internet Data Collection
Authors: Hulsizer Michael R. , Woolf Linda M.
Published: November 2011

The Internet has been both an important research tool and an important area of inquiry for peace psychologists. As a tool, the Internet has enabled investigators to research topics through the use of email, online surveys, chat rooms, and electronic focus groups. These methods often enable researchers to access difficult‐to‐reach populations and build large participant pools and collect data amendable to complex statistical analyses (e.g., factor analysis, structural equation modeling). Anderson and Kanuka (2003) stated that “like any useful tool in the hands of a skilled practitioner, the Net can provide opportunities and techniques that enhance many components of our research practice” (p. 3).
Interrogation, Psychology and
Authors: Stephen Soldz Jean Maria Arrigo , Bennett Ray
Published: November 2011

Interrogation refers to the process of state agents questioning captive, often unwilling individuals for state purposes. Historically, state‐recognized experts on mind–body relations have often provided the rationales for state methods of interrogation. Aristotle, for example, described the ancient Greek practice of juridical torture from the naturalistic perspective and maintained that slaves, lacking reason, tell the truth to stop the pain, whereas free men can reason to their long‐term advantage and give false testimony under torture. European juridical torture in the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries was grounded in the ascetic principle that bodily pain drives out self‐will in favor of God's will, thus resulting in true testimony. In the Korean War (1950–1953), Chinese “brainwashing” of United Nations prisoners proceeded as Maoist re‐education, wherein prisoners of war confessed their political crimes.
Laboratory Experiments
Authors: Hulsizer Michael R. , Woolf Linda M.
Published: November 2011

Laboratory experimentation is an important technique in the array of research tools available to peace psychologists. Unlike other categories of research (e.g., archival research, naturalistic observation), laboratory experimentation, if done correctly, can enable the researcher to make causal inferences when explaining the relationship between variables of interest. Specifically, the laboratory environment is uniquely situated to establish causality by enabling the researcher to manipulate variables of interest, examine the impact on outcome variables, and eliminate or minimize extraneous variables. However, the usefulness of laboratory experiments hinges on the degree to which the research results can be generalized from the artificial confines of the lab to the outside world. The challenge for any laboratory researcher is to design a research paradigm that can enable the researcher to make causal inferences (i.e., internal validity) and still maintain maximum generalizability (i.e., external validity).
Language, Violent and Peaceful Uses of
Authors: Bolívar Adriana
Published: November 2011

The importance of language and its effects for preserving or damaging peace has been acknowledged in psychology and other disciplines for a long time. However, there has been little attention to the problem from a linguistic perspective because language is often taken for granted — more or less in the same way as the air we breathe is taken for granted. We all know by experience what violent and peaceful uses of language look like, and we also know that in the private space (and in some public spaces too) words may be accompanied with gestures, screaming, yelling, and more intense bodily actions such as throwing things, kicking, bumping, breaking objects, etc. We have been warned that verbal violence often leads to physical violence and, perhaps, death. However, our interest is to call attention to the fact that language is above all a social practice in which we all participate with rights and duties and that, as speakers of a language, we are responsible for choosing the words and acts of discourse that may either mitigate or intensify conflicts and promote peaceful dialogue or not.)
Levels of Analysis Problem
Authors: Suedfeld Peter , Cross Ryan W. , Stewart Michael
Published: November 2011

Peace and war (and intermediate conditions) are states or events that can involve the lives or deaths of hundreds of millions of people and most of the world. The debate about how to explain, predict, and influence their occurrence has engaged political leaders as well as scholars for centuries. Substantial progress in this enterprise could enable us to forecast when the peace is imperiled or when the end of war approaches, understand the gradations and differences between different kinds of peace and of war, and perhaps to develop strategies for averting, limiting, ameliorating, or ending armed conflict.
Liberation Psychology
Authors: Montero Maritza
Published: November 2011

Liberation psychology was introduced into psychology during the mid‐1980s and since then has continued to develop not as a new branch for the discipline, but as an ethical and political way to do psychology. Although liberation psychology in Latin America was originally considered a politically oriented social psychology, it has been mainly developed as a way to practice psychology which acknowledges the political implications permeating all aspects of the psychological profession. This is due to its concern for social change and economic problems traceable to inequality, oppression, and exclusion within societies. Specifically, it has been developed as an answer to the necessity to study psychological processes and conditions that oppress and liberate people.
Lucifer Effect
Authors: Zimbardo Philip G.
Published: November 2011

By the 1970s, social psychologists had conducted a series of studies establishing the social power of groups, and of situational forces to influence individual behaviors. They showed, for example, that groups of strangers could persuade people to believe statements that were obviously false (Asch, 1955) by endorsing the false value as if it were correct. Others found that the presence of three or more people who did not respond to an emergency created a definition of that situation as one in which it is appropriate not to intervene or give aid to those in need (Darley & Latané, 1968). Dissonance theory researchers revealed that rational people could justify virtually any irrational decision they had taken in order to make it appear that their behavior was consonant with their attitudes and values (Festinger, 1957; Tavris & Arsonson, 2008). Milgram (1974/2009) and other psychologists had also found that research participants were often willing to obey authority figures even when doing so violated their morality and conscience.
Media and Peace: Traditional Outlets
Authors: Kuriansky Judy , Mountcastle Catherine
Published: November 2011

While emerging technologies continue to offer new opportunities for peacebuilding, the current article focuses on the use of traditional forms of mass media that has greatly aided individuals, mental health professionals, and societies to communicate about peace and to deal with conflict. Messaging through broadcast (television and radio programming), film, print (newspapers and magazines), and live events (artistic efforts and music festivals) informs and educates the public and empowers communities by facilitating awareness about peace and healing processes, and by presenting solutions to conflict by stimulating dialogue and increased government transparency and accountability. Entertaining and informative programming has also reached rural communities of marginalized and less educated people.While such outlets have pro‐social advantages for humanitarianism and good practice, some risks exist in that media coverage can inflame conflict, as happened in places like Somalia and Bosnia (Adam & Holguin, 2003).