Fundamentals Unit 8.5: Psychological Dynamics and Issues
This unit relates to Conflict Frontiers Massively Parallel Peacebuilding (MPP) Challenge 1: Figuring Out What is Going On.
Essays in This Unit:
- Psychological Dynamics of Intractable Conflicts -- In intractable conflicts, it is possible for entire societies to get tangled up in negative psychological dynamics. If these dynamics are not recognized and addressed it will become difficult or impossible to resolve the conflict.
- Limits of Rationality -- Negotiation theory often assumes that people in conflict behave rationally, making their decisions on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis. While rational assessment is sometimes one part of the disputants' decision making rubric, other factors usually play a significant role as well, often overriding what would be seen to be the "rational" response.
- Ethos of Conflict -- A community's ethos is its shared beliefs, goals and identity. Communities in an intractable conflict expand that ethos to explain their approach to the conflict. A community's ethos strongly affects how destructive the conflict becomes.
- Siege Mentality -- Many societies believe that other societies have negative intentions towards them. But with the "siege mentality," the situation is far more extreme. They believe that the entire world is hostile toward them.
- Delegitimization -- Delegitimization refers to the negative stereotypes used to describe an adversary. Delegitimization is one of the major forces that feeds violence and prevents a peaceful resolution.
- Dehumanization -- Dehumanization has the power to justify society's most violent and terrible impulses. If outsiders such as the Jews in Germany or the Tutsis in Rwanda are seen as less than human, then this clears the way to commit atrocities against them.
- Victimhood -- In the early 1930s, millions of Ukranians died under Stalin's violent policy of forced collectivization. The depth of pain, fear, and hatred that continued to characterize the Ukrainian attitude toward Russians is typical of all victimized people. This essay examines the causes and consequences of a sense of victimhood.
- Cognitive Dissonance -- People tend to ignore or "explain away" new information that conflicts with the way they currently think. Such "cognitive dissonance" can have both constructive and destructive effects on conflict.
- Game Theory -- Simple mathematical models can provide insight into complex societal relationships. This essay explore some of these models, especially the prisoner's dilemma.