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Conceptual and Action Frameworks for Peace: Counseling and Building Communities of Peace
Abstract
An overview is provided on conceptual and action frameworks for peace, including contributions from different areas of psychology and several multidisciplinary perspectives. Approaches lacking in previous efforts, and some of the reasons for the limited success of peace work are identified. Two case examples are given to illustrate possibilities that have transformative potential, but are less often pursued by counseling professionals. Action research in communal dialogue and advocacy, and psychoeducation and mentoring in psychospiritual development are emphasized in promoting peaceful communities. Implications for our roles and functions as well as future theory, research and training are discussed.
“How to prevent wars” can be considered as reason behind the foundation of field international relations. In other words, after two devastating war humanity realized that we should learn peaceful coexistence. That’s why last 50 years were dedicated to peace which have been the most controversial and gripping notion in all disciplines. Within this context, the notion of sustainable peace becomes more important in last years. On the other hand, chaos and its application in social life- actually our real universe gave insight people to understand social facts with dynamic systems and chaos theory. So, this chapter will be a new and fresh to have sustainable peace with peace intelligence. Peace intelligence is completely new phenomena which coined by Şefika Şule Erçetin.
Person-centered spiritual maturation has conceptual and historical roots in my work with Carl Rogers, as a staff member of the Person-Centered Approach Project. It is a person-specific process of psychospiritual development that can be mentored in communities where belief systems and cultural identities are diverse. It enables individuals to deepen engagement with contemplative practices from spiritual traditions that hold personal salience, while building inclusive, respectful communities. This multidimensional model emerges from three decades mentoring person-centered spiritual maturation with university students in the service of their growth as professionals and socially responsible citizens. Growth includes (a) behavioral self-regulation through mindfulness; (b) cognitive understanding of humanity’s chain of pain that supports social justice; (c) social–emotional development that repairs broken attachment templates and promotes compassionate attunement to self and others; (d) contemplative practice that strengthens secure existential attachment and taps the human capacity for unconditional altruistic love; and (e) formation of a resilient worldview, confidence in life and self, that helps people confront life’s existential, interpersonal, and intergroup tensions with sufficient internal composure to derive maturational growth. This model provides a cohesive multidimensional explanation of person-centered spiritual maturation that highlights its prosocial value, integrates relevant neuroscience, and offers researchers a conceptual framework for future investigations.
A series of studies of acculturative stress is reported, involving immigrants, refugees, native peoples, sojourners and ethnic groups in Canada. Acculturative stress is defined as a reduction in health status of individuals who are undergoing acculturation, and for which there is evidence that these health phenomena are related systematically to acculturation phenomena. -from Authors
At the turn of the millennium, many new democracies left behind histories of authoritarianism but collective memories of political abuses remain. Conditions of violence and peace that accompany the transition to democracy include forms of direct, structural, and cultural social transgressions. Democratization processes (DP) may likewise unleash a more subtle yet powerful form of social violence, as Western powers impose their own governmental forms that are alien to weaker states. Such impositions of democracy on less powerful societies revive unpleasant memories of Western hegemonic activities during colonial periods and the Cold War. Psychologists can contribute positively to indigenous DP by helping peoples in new democracies identify local participative processes, minimize marginalization of human pluralities, build egalitarian political cultures, and strengthen democratic selves. But to achieve these goals, psychology as a discipline needs to take a critical approach and adapt to the practical and theoretical demands of DP. The authors propose 3 alterations within the field of psychology, namely: expand psychology's intellectual boundaries beyond subjective-individual well-being, increase multidisciplinary views, and encourage indigenous psychological practitioners/thinkers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this article, the authors present an interdisciplinary discussion of the multiple dimensions of racism and formulate conceptions of its impact on the formation of healthy personalities. They describe how racism has both ideological and structural components and perpetuates itself recursively at the macro-(e.g., group, institution) and microlevels (e.g., interpersonal). As one consequence of its embedded, cyclical nature, efforts to treat client problems that involve issues of race and racism will necessarily entail piercing distortions in reality, encouraging self-moral development, and eliciting risk-taking behaviors. To take part in transforming current structures of racism, counseling psychologists are urged to extend these strategies beyond the therapeutic milieu. Implications for practice, training, and research are presented.
Human rights violations in the context of state-sponsored violence create a culture of death, terror, and violence, and the consequences remain in the countries’ institutions and in the psyche and the body of the people themselves. Can it be possible to build a culture of peace if the legacy of a culture of death and terror is still alive? This article focuses on the psychological effects of these cultures of death and violence in Latin America and on the importance of a psychological perspective regarding the legacy of this past in the present. Based on clinical experience with victims of human rights violations, this article discusses the role of psychologists building a culture of peace and facing the dilemmas of political reconciliation in the contemporary, postdictatorship period in Chile.
The purposes of political discourse include (a) clarifying citizens’ understanding of the issue, (b) helping citizens reach their best reasoned judgment as to which course of action will solve a problem, (c) increasing citizen participation in the political process, and (d) socializing the next generation into the procedures and attitudes they need to be active citizens. A responsibility of psychology within a democratic society is to provide the theory, research, and normative procedures needed to make political discourse constructive. Constructive controversy provides a theory, validated by research, that has been operationalized into a normative procedure. Constructive controversy exists when one person’s ideas, information, conclusions, theories, and opinions are incompatible with those of another, and the 2 seek to reach an agreement. A political decision is reached through the following procedure. Citizens form advocacy groups and present the best case possible for the alternative course of action they prefer. An open discussion is held in which each citizen continues to advocate his or her position and tries to refute opposing positions and to rebut attacks on their position. Citizens then step back, try to view the issue from the other points of view, and then come to a joint decision based on the best reasoned judgment of all citizens. The theorizing about and validating research provide an empirical base for political discourse and guidelines for conducting political campaigns.
The Johnsons (this issue) decry the problem of the narrowing of democratic participation and offer valuable recommendations for using the classroom to promote democratic political discourse. Unfortunately, although many psychologists are committed to the Johnsons' goals, many others have engaged in research on beginning literacy education that has justified authoritarian curriculum policy, which gravely constricts thoughtful, critical discourse of any kind. This article discusses how these psychologists are part of the problem, not the solution.
Interactive problem solving is an unofficial, third-party approach to conflict resolution, which brings together politically influential representatives of conflicting parties for direct interaction in problem-solving workshops. Experiences from this microprocess are used here as a metaphor for the macroprocesses of negotiation and diplomacy. The use of interactive problem solving as a metaphor for the larger process of conflict resolution implies that the conflicting parties have a shared
problem in their relationship, which needs to be
solved by addressing the underlying causes and dynamics of the conflict in an
interactive process. Within this framework, the article describes the ultimate goal of negotiation as transforming the relationship between the parties via an agreement that addresses the fundamental needs and fears of both on a basis of reciprocity. It then discusses 4 components of the larger process of conflict resolution—identification and analysis of the problem, joint shaping of ideas for solution, influencing the other side, and creating a supportive political environment—and procedures for each suggested by the metaphor of interactive problem solving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Widespread violence in a society must have its origins in cultural characteristics, current societal conditions, or both. In this article, the cultural, societal, and psychological origins of two very different forms of violence are examined. A conception of the origins of genocide and mass killing is briefly presented, with the Holocaust and the violence in the former Yugoslavia as supporting evidence. Difficult life conditions give rise to scapegoating, destructive ideologies, and the evolution of increasing violence against a designated enemy. Cultural characteristics that make this process more or less probable are described. This is followed by a presentation of the socialization experiences of children that generate youth violence. To explain the increase in youth violence, the presence of difficult life conditions in the United States is noted (due primarily to substantial social change). The effects of difficult life conditions, cultural characteristics, and social conditions such as poverty and discrimination against minority groups on family life and parenting are described. Similarities and differences in the origins of the two forms of violence are examined. The role of unfulfilled or frustrated basic human needs in generating violence is stressed, and conditions and actions required to reduce violence are proposed.
How can a human needs perspective inform the practice of conflict resolution? This chapter attempts to answer this question on the basis of my own experience with “interactive problem-solving,” an approach to the resolution of international conflicts that finds its fullest expression in the problem-solving workshop.2 This approach derives from the work of John Burton’ and follows the general principles that he has laid out. My own work has concentrated heavily (though not exclusively) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and I will draw most of my illustrations from that arena.
The term interactive conflict resolution refers to a collection of small-group discussion approaches to the analysis and resolution of intergroup conflict that bring together members of conflicting parties in dialogue and problem solving facilitated by a team of knowledgeable and skilled social scientists. The invention of this method is attributed to John Burton and his colleagues at University College, London in the mid-1960s. They creatively combined the forum of an academic seminar with group problem solving such that the participants could enter into a mutual analysis of the sources and dynamics of their conflict, followed by the development of ideas and options that could be fed into official peace negotiations. Burton initially labeled this workshop approach as controlled communication in order to denote the non-adversarial, open and supportive atmosphere created by the third party, but later used the term problem solving to distinguish the method from traditional negotiations (Burton, 1969).
This essay utilizes Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral, or justice, reasoning to address the issue of international distributive justice. Kohlberg's theory is used to clarify the logical and ethical differences between two "postconventional" perspectives on international obligations, the interdependence perspective and the shared humanity perspective, and to demonstrate the greater adequacy of the latter. In addition, the implications of a shared humanity perspective on international distributive justice is discussed. A subsidiary purpose is to defend Kohlberg's postulation of a stage 6 level of moral reasoning.
Religious experiences may be a resource in primary preventive care. Using Tillich's model, in which ontological anxiety contributes to psychological and physical illness, this paper proposes that religious experience can contribute to well-being. Data supporting these relationships, drawn from studies of psychotherapeutic workshop participants, medical outpatients and divinity school students, are reviewed. Further evidence is reviewed which suggests that the development of an internally-focussed perceptual orientation may facilitate the occurrence of religious experience.
Editor's note: We approached Ruth Pluznick to write a review of Simon Weisenthal's book, 'The Sunflower: On the possibilities and limits of forgiveness' because we believe its subject matter directly relates to the issue of responding to trauma. Responses to trauma do not only involve questions of healing, but also questions of justice. Both the content and style of this book seem highly relevant to our field and Ruth makes some of these links at the end of her review. While Ruth was writing this piece, Simon Wiesenthal died at the age of 96. It seems all the more appropriate to include this review of his book in these pages.
According to social identity theory, identity competition plays a central role in the inception and escalation of intergroup conflict, even when economic and political factors also are at play. Individual and group identity competition is considered a byproduct of individuals' efforts to satisfy basic human needs, including various psychological needs. Religions often serve these psychological needs more comprehensively and potently than other repositories of cultural meaning that contribute to the construction and maintenance of individual and group identities. Religions frequently supply cosmologies, moral frameworks, institutions, rituals, traditions, and other identity-supporting content that answers to individuals' needs for psychological stability in the form of a predictable world, a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and even self-actualization. The peculiar ability of religion to serve the human identity impulse thus may partially explain why intergroup conflict so frequently occurs along religious fault lines.
The literature about 24 peaceful peoples was examined to determine if their ways of conflict resolution differ from the approaches to conflict found in other, more violent, societies. While the strategies for managing conflicts employed by these peoples are comparable to those used in many other small-scale societies, their world-views of peacefulness and the structures they use to reinforce those world-views do distinguish them from other societies. Several common notions about conflict and conflict resolution that are asserted by Western scholars can be questioned in light of the success of these societies in peacefully resolving conflicts: namely, that violent conflict is inevitable in all societies; that punishment and armed force prevent internal and external violence; that political structures are necessary to prevent conflicts; and that conflict should be viewed as positive and necessary. The contrary evidence is that over half of the peaceful societies have no recorded violence; they rarely punish other adults (except for the threat of ostracism); they handle conflicts with outside societies in the same peaceful ways that they approach internal conflicts; they do not look to outside governments when they have internal disputes; and they have a highly negative view of conflict.
This book is written for both teachers and teacher educators to use in addressing issues of human rights. The conceptual development approach used throughout the book makes it suitable for a full human rights curriculum; the grade-level discussions and sample lesson plans also can be used in individual classes or to enrich ongoing programs. The book is divided into seven chapters and subdivided by grade level examples. Chapters include: (1) "Introduction: Purposes and Approaches"; (2) "A Developmental Sequence for Presentation of the Core Concepts"; (3) "The Early Grades: Laying the Foundation for an Appreciation of Human Dignity--Kindergarten to Grade Three"; (4) "The Middle Grades: Introducing Standards and Principles--Grades Four to Six"; (5) "Junior High School: Reflecting and Valuing--Grades Seven to Nine"; (6) "Senior High School: Confronting the Problems, Taking Responsibility--Grades Ten to Twelve"; and (7) "Resources for Human Rights Education." Flexibility is built in to adjust the curriculum for schools with other grade divisions. A useful feature of this book is the Appendix, which makes critical human rights documents available to the classroom teacher, including the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," the "Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women," and the "Convention on the Rights of the Child." This book is an essential tool for implementation of the goals set by the United Nations and the People's Decade for Human Rights Education. (EH)
This book addresses several aspects of culture and race within the context of counseling and psychotherapy. The first section of the book discusses the implications of conducting effective therapy when the client's and therapist's socioracial histories, ethnic culture, social class, and various other sociodemographics, which are often used as euphemisms or proxies for race, are recognized as viable aspects of the person. The next section of the book examines issues of therapy process. Finally, the third section examines alternative ways of viewing the therapy process. These include examination of cultural and racial considerations in therapy supervision; that is, the process of teaching students to perform therapy, research concerns, and answers to questions the authors have been frequently asked by students, colleagues, and supervisees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examines international cases to understand what causes a society's ethnic conflicts to escalate or de-escalate. This book contains examinations of the political and historical antecedents to conflict around the world, combining them with psychological analyses of group identity and intergroup conflict. In examining the escalation of ethnic conflict, the chapters highlight the critical role of group identification, stressing how group identification becomes enmeshed with threatened economic resources, violent political subcultures, and media manipulation of collective fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Spirituality, once an old and honorable religious term for the “exploration into what is involved in becoming human” (McFague, 1997, p. 10), is ubiquitous in contemporary culture, albeit highly diverse and ambiguous in its usage. In our active interchange involving two community psychologists and a theologian—carried on in the spirit of Lewinian action research and pastoral theology's method of congregational studies— we have returned to that earlier tradition. We are developing a framework for spirituality encompassing human development and community development as two sides of the same coin. The framework provides a community-oriented theoretical account of the dynamics of spirituality and a foundation for action research on the interrelationship of spirituality and community. We begin by describing the context for the development of the framework—the St. Robert project, a participant–observer action research and consultation project ongoing for more than ten years in a Roman Catholic parish. We then present the framework's elements and conclude by outlining an ongoing empirical inquiry at St. Robert into the nature of spirituality, which has implications for the field's address to the spiritual dimensions of personal and community experience, especially psychological sense of community. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Although the concept of justification has played a significant role in many social psychological theories, its presence in recent examinations of stereotyping has been minimal. We describe and evaluate previous notions of stereotyping as ego-justification and group-justification and propose an additional account, that of system-justification, which refers to psychological processes contributing to the preservation of existing social arrangements even at the expense of personal and group interest. It is argued that the notion of system-justification is necessary to account for previously unexplained phenomena, most notably the participation by disadvantaged individuals and groups in negative stereotypes of themselves, and the consensual nature of stereotypic beliefs despite differences in social relations within and between social groups. We offer a selective review of existing research that demonstrates the role of stereotypes in the production of false consciousness and develop the implications of a system-justification approach.
[T]he rationalizing and justifying function of a stereotype exceeds its function as a reflector of group attributes—G. W. Allport (1958, p. 192).
The article describes how certain motives can combine with the exclusion of people from the moral universe, leading to torture, genocide, and mass killing. Personal goal theory is presented as a framework. Personal goals and moral values have ranges of applicability from which certain groups may be excluded. When there is conflict between goals and values, stringent moral values can be replaced by others that allow harm doing—a process termed moral equilibration. The psychological and motivational sources of exclusion include devaluation of groups, just-world thinking, self-distancing by euphemisms or by an objectifying perceptual stance that reduces empathy, and ideologies that identify enemies. Certain cultural characteristics create a predisposition for group violence. Together with intensely difficult life conditions, they give rise to powerful motives and lead to ways of fulfilling them that turn the group against a subgroup of society. As they harm their victims, the perpetrators and the whole society change, progressing along a continuum of destruction that can end in genocide. Bystanders often encourage perpetrators, and they themselves are changed as they passively face the suffering of victims. However, bystanders also have great potential power to inhibit the evolution of increasing destructiveness.
A recent scientifically and historically grounded theory on human genetic and cultural evolution suggests why the religious elements of culture became the primary source of both peaceful cooperation within societal ingroups and at the same time of destructive wars with outgroups. It also describes the role of religion in the evolution of ape-men into humans. The theory indicates why human societal life is not long viable without the underpinning of a healthy, noncoercive, religious faith; why sound religious faith is weak now; and why we may hope both for better morals and for worldwide cooperation in peace.
This essay addresses the insufficiency of modern science as the solution to the problems of human life. It is a critique of
community theory and a constructivist proposal for a synthesis of the individuality and collectivity solutions to the Paradox
of the One and the Many—designated as the Third Position. The Third Position is necessary for the postmodern period for there
is a need to incorporate the goal of Equality (or Justice) into a paradigm based on Liberty and Fraternity. The Third Position
is also called the Just Community. To achieve the development of the new position (paradigm), a location-specific action research
center is proposed based on the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (Kelly, 1970). Two examples of action research are
described: aqualitative project to develop community within a parish that has served to advance the theory of the Just Community, and aquantitative project of community-level change-monitoring of social indicators and the use of dynamic modeling as a way to understand
and simulate local community processes. The Society for Community Research and Action is urged to take specific actions to
explore the development of a Woods Hole community research laboratory.
âThe flames of violence engulfing the world have prompted social scientists to look for fresh solutions, one of which is forgiveness. Although theologians and philosophers have written much on the subject, social scientists subjected it to âbenign neglectâ until 1985, when some empirical research began. This is a collection of papers from a symposium convened to define the field and lay the foundation for future research.... The authors are major contributors in the field, and they have succeeded admirably in their mandate.â âLibrary Journal
Resilience refers to the positive ways in which people respond to adversity and stressful life events. Much of the research and writing in resilience has focussed on how children respond to adversity. Community resilience, however, represents an extension of this focus. Often oppressed communities are represented as lacking in resilience and competence. Models that characterize group responses to inter-group and intercultural contact often simplify the responses of communities. Drawing on these concepts it is argued that oppressed groups do not always capitulate or assimilate to oppressive systems, but in alternative forums and settings these groups find ways to resist oppression and experience a sense of community. In settings such as church groups, sporting clubs, extended family networks and other organizations groups find ways to protect and propagate what is valued and central for their survival. This has implications for how we interpret and understand the ways in which groups adapt to oppressive and changed contexts and alerts us to the dangers in under-emphasising and overlooking the positive functions of alternative settings.
The metropolis in Black and White A time to speak: A brief history of the Afro-Americans of
- G Galster
- E Hill
Galster, G., & Hill, E. (Eds.)(1992). The metropolis in Black and White. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research/Rutgers University. Gilliam, F. V. H. (1985). A time to speak: A brief history of the Afro-Americans of Bloomington, Indiana 1865–1965.
The Negro-to-Black conversion experience: Toward a psychology of Black liberation
- W E Cross
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Cross, W. E., Jr. (1972). The Negro-to-Black conversion experience: Toward a psychology of Black liberation. Black World, 20, 13–27.