Daniel J. Christie

Peace Psychology for a Peaceful World

Although the literature in peace psychology has been growing rapidly, many American psychologists are unaware of how conflict is resolved and peace is conceptualized and achieved. This article reviews the long history and broadening scope of peace psychology and introduces a model of peace that is useful for organizing the literature. The model suggests that peace can be facilitated at four different points of intervention. The authors discuss relationships between positive and negative peace, structural and direct violence, and peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding. They advance some challenges for peace psychologists and conclude that peace psychology is a crucial field for grappling with humanitys most pressing problems in the coming decades.

Some Contributions of Psychology to Policies Promoting Cultures of Peace

Psychologists have a long history of contributing to the development, implementation, advocacy, and evaluation of public policies, but not always in the interest of peace and social justice. This article advances 9 psychologically based principles to guide policy development and activism in the interest of peace and social justice. The principles include: debunking biological determinism as a cause of violence, war, and other problems that have substantial cultural and structural roots; reducing the wealth gap as a means of promoting human well-being; distinguishing conflict from violence and attaching inevitability only to the former; delegitimizing the use of violence at all levels of society; promoting nonviolent social action to redress injustices; stepping-up communication in the face of enmity; putting the struggle for social justice at the center of psychology; promoting equality between men and women; and emphasizing the prevention of violence over intervention.

The effects of classroom noise on children: Evidence for sex differences

To clarify the relationship between classroom noise and childrens intellectual performance, 156 first-, third-, and fifth-grade children worked on a matrix task in either a noisy environment (70dbA) or in a quiet environment (40dbA). Childrens performance on the intellectual task increased with age. Moreover, in the environment with classroom noise, boys consistently solved more complex matrix problems than did girls.

Rewarding in international politics

The relationship between the superpowers is potentially the most destructive to mankind of any that has existed through history. Moreover, it is, through the continuing arms race, itself based on mutual deterrence and weapons modernization, extremely costly to both countries

Tolerance and Solidarity

Tolerance and solidarity are recognized as key elements in the United Nations Culture of Peace Declaration. The contributions of psychology to our understanding of the causes of intolerance and the promotion of both tolerance and solidarity are discussed by drawing on insights from the Costa Rica symposium and connecting more widely with the scholarly literature in social and peace psychology. Guided by theory and research, we examine the sources of intolerance and exclusion, emphasizing not only small group processes but structural, societal-level changes. We cite provocative evidence indicating that democratization and globalization leave in their wake new divisions and intolerance. While noting the value of intergroup contact in the context of interdependent goals, we underscore the limits of traditional social psychological approaches when addressing complex social phenomena. We emphasize the critical role peace psychologists can play in exposing ideologies of oppression, and promoting social designs ...

Contributions of Psychology to War and Peace.

The contributions of American psychologists to war have been substantial and responsive to changes in U.S. national security threats and interests for nearly 100 years. These contributions are identified and discussed for four periods of armed conflict: World Wars I and II, the Cold War, and the Global War on Terror. In contrast, about 50 years ago, largely in reaction to the threat of nuclear war, some psychologists in the United States and around the world broke with the tradition of supporting war and began focusing their scholarship and activism on the prevention of war and promotion of peace. Today, peace psychology is a vibrant area of psychology, with theory and practice aimed at understanding, preventing, and mitigating both episodes of organized violence and the pernicious worldwide problem of structural violence. The growth, scope, and content of peace psychology are reviewed along with contributions to policies that promote peace, social justice, and human well-being.

Some Conditions Surrounding the Effectiveness of Advance Organizers for Children's Retention of Orally Presented Prose

The study was designed to (a) isolate some of the conditions under which advance organizers facilitate the retention of prose, and (b) identify processes children employ when preparing to recall prose. First and fourth grade children either received or did not receive an advance organizer prior to the presentation of a passage. The passage was difficult to comprehend without knowledge of the advance organizer and contained an equal number of sentences which were relevant and irrelevant to the main theme of the story. Results showed that older children who did not receive the advance organizer actively generated their own advance organizer at an earlier sentence during passage presentation than younger children. Additionally, older children who did not receive the advance organizer recalled a greater amount of relevant than irrelevant thematic information. Hence, two factors must be taken into account in order to assess accurately the relationship between advance organizers and childrens recall of prose: the possibility that children generate their own thematic structure or advance organizer for a passage and the effect of advance organizers on the recall of relevant versus irrelevant thematic information.

Promoting Harmonious Relations and Equitable Well-Being: Peace Psychology and “Intractable” Conflicts

The chapter explores Bar-Tal’s legacy in relation to key concepts, perspectives, and findings that comprise the growing field of peace psychology, specifically the promotion of sustainable peace through the indivisible constructs of harmonious relations and equitable well-being. Analyzed through a peace psychology lens, Bar-Tal’s work highlights both the barriers to and bridges for achieving sustainable peace. Central concepts from his work, such as fear, insecurity, and an ethos of conflict, demonstrate key obstacles to fostering harmonious intergroup relations based on social justice. Bar-Tal’s work also identifies processes that can overcome these barriers, which is consistent with peace psychology’s emphasis on the development of constructive responses to violence and conflict. For example, the chapter outlines how confidence-building mechanisms, mutually respectful identities, and reconciliation processes, may help foster an ethos of peace that can be embedded in the structure of societies through peace education. The chapter concludes with implications and suggestions for future research, with a focus on the role of young people in settings of prolonged intergroup division and generational approaches to peacebuilding, as conceptualized through a peace psychology lens.

Sustaining Peace through Psychologically Informed Policies: The Geohistorical Context of Malaysia

In this chapter, we situate psychology within the interdisciplinary field of Peace and Conflict Studies and review some contributions of psychology to public policies that promote peace and social justice. As a case study, we examine the Malaysian government’s efforts to prevent inter-ethnic violence through affirmative action policies designed to promote social justice. While the policies have produced a more equitable distribution of resources, inter-ethnic tensions ensue. We identify some potential applications of psychology that could guide policy development and mitigate inter-ethnic tensions. From our perspective, sustaining peace requires geohistorical sensitivity and the continuous pursuit of social justice through an ongoing iterative process in which psychologically-based principles inform public policies, and carefully measured policy outcomes, in turn, inform psychological principles.

Social Psychology of Violence

Social psychology emphasizes situational and cognitive influences on violence and its prevention. Using a systems approach, this article examines the causes of both direct and structural violence at levels ranging from the interpersonal to the societal and international levels. Key situational influences include obedience, conformity, social learning processes, intergroup competition, relative and absolute deprivation, and structural inequities. Key cognitive influences include social identity, radical ideologies, cultural narratives and symbols, enemy images, and dehumanization. The article examines both the causes of violence and social psychological approaches to peace-making and peace-building.