1. Social Psychology
David Myers
11e

2. Chapter Thirteen Conflict and Peacemaking What creates conflict?
How can peace be achieved?
Postscript: The conflict between individual and communal rights
What social situations feed conflict?
How do misperceptions fuel conflict?
Does contact with the other side reduce conflict?
When do cooperation, communication, and mediation enable reconcillation

3. What Creates Conflict? Social Dilemmas Social trap
Situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing its self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

4. What Creates Conflict? Social Dilemmas The “Prisoners Dilemma”
What would you do?
confess to be granted immunity? Deny guilt?
What role does communication / not being able to play here?
“Tragedy of the Commons”
Fishers, crabbers in the Chesapeake Bay
Global warming / water in California
Fundamental attribution error
Evolving motives- Vietnam & Iraq wars
Non-zero-sum games- e.g. Prisoners dilemma

5. What Creates Conflict? Social Dilemmas Resolving social dilemmas
Regulation (Government)
Safeguard the common good
Make the group small –visibility/ accountability
What’s the optimal size?
Communication – Robyn Dawes’ experiment (1980)
30% vs. 80%
Change the payoffs
Carpools –how does this change the payoffs?
Appeal to altruistic norms (social norms)
Why did 1/3 cooperate in “Wall Street Game” vs. 2/3 in “Community Game”?

6. What Creates Conflict?
Competition (group identification is a prerequisite)
Realistic group conflict (Sherif, 1966)
Win-lose competition
Negative images of the outgroup
Strong ingroup cohesiveness
Pride
What are some real life examples?
Of superordinate goals that bring groups together?

7. What Creates Conflict? Perceived Injustice
People perceive justice as equity
Ratio of outcomes to inputs for self and other
Distribution of rewards in proportion to individuals’ contributions
If one contributes more and benefits less, he will feel exploited
As equality?
E.g. family distributions of resources
Does it depend upon equity or equality
Other examples?
Should it apply to poverty in America?

8. What Creates Conflict? Misperception Of other’s motives and goals
Iran and U.S.
Israel and Palestinians
Seeds of misperception
Self-serving bias
Tendency to self-justify
Fundamental attribution error

9. What Creates Conflict? Mirror-Image Perceptions
Reciprocal views of each other often held by parties in conflict
Example
Each may view itself as moral and peace-loving and the other as evil and aggressive
Iran, U.S.
Russia, U.S.
Baltimore Police, Black youth/community
Others?
Evil leader–good people illusion

10. What Creates Conflict? Simplistic Thinking Shifting Perceptions
When tension rises rational thinking becomes more difficult
Views of the enemy become more simplistic and stereotyped
Shifting Perceptions
The same processes that create the enemy’s image can reverse it when the enemy becomes an ally

11. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Contact…generally predicts tolerance
Predicts decreased prejudice
Friendship
Those who form friendships with outgroup members develop more positive attitudes toward the outgroup
Minimize outgroup identity
How can this be done?
Equal-status contact
Contact on an equal basis
To reduce prejudice, interracial contact should be between persons equal in status
Who have perceived choice in associating with one another
Multiculturalism or Assimilation? Which is it?
Hutu & Tutsi? Or just Rwandan?
Or Omnicultural?

12. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Cooperation
Common external threats build cohesiveness
E.g. army in Vietnam
Superordinate goals foster cooperation
Shared goal that necessitates cooperative effort
Cooperative learning improves racial attitudes
Aronson’s “jigsaw” technique
Group and superordinate identities

13. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Communication
Bargaining
Seeking an agreement to a conflict through direct negotiation between parties
Tough bargaining may lower the other party’s expectations, but can sometimes backfire
Bush and Hussein

14. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Communication
Mediation
Attempt by a neutral third party to resolve a conflict by facilitating communication and offering suggestions
Integrative agreements
Win-win agreements that reconcile both parties’ interests to their mutual benefit
Unravel misperceptions with controlled communications

15. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Communication
Arbitration
Resolution of a conflict by a neutral third party who studies both sides and imposes a settlement
Final-offer arbitration
Motivates each party to make a reasonable proposal

16. How Can Peace Be Achieved?
Conciliation
GRIT (Osgood, ‘62)
Acronym for “graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction”—a strategy designed to de-escalate international tensions
Real world applications
Berlin crisis in 60’s
Kennedy and Khrushchev ‘63