Daniel Bar-Tal

Louis Oppenheimer

Amiram Raviv

How Children Understand War and Peace If we had a better grasp on how children and adolescents develop ideas of war, conflict, and peace, would it be possible to consciously influence these concepts toward more peaceful orientations? Would it then be possible to integrate these psychological findings into educational programs throughout the world? How Children Understand War and Peace is a landmark book that examines these two vital questions and provides a solid framework on which to build answers. Written by an international panel of experts in the fields of developmental, social, and educational psychology, How Children Understand War and Peace presents a collection of the most current thoughts and insights into how children and adolescents develop an understanding of war, conflict, and peace. Based on research studies done in Australia, Canada, Finland, Holland, Israel, Portugal, Northern Ireland, Sweden, and the United States, this comprehensive volume presents evidence that perceptions of war and peace formed during childhood relate directly to adult perspectives on these critical issues. The contributors present persuasive evidence that our knowledge about how youngsters from around the globe develop and form worldviews can be used to create educational programs that teach children peace education, conflict management, and conflict resolution. How Children Understand War and Peace is an indispensable guide for psychologists, educators, and anyone concerned with building a solid foundation for a more peaceful world through knowledge and education. What Children Can Teach Us and What We Can Teach Children How Children Understand War and Peace offers an international perspective on how the concepts of war and peace develop in children and how, through overt teaching of conflict resolution and peacemaking skills in schools, a more peaceful world could be created. "I welcome this important new book. The editors and contributors have given us a new and valuable account of how young people understand the essential issues of war and peace. Not only is this a large step forward in the study of child and adolescent social cognition, but, in addition, the knowledge base in this book suggests ways to educate the younger generation toward more peaceful resolutions of dangerous social conflicts."—William Damon, professor and director, Stanford Center on Adolescence "The first comprehensive overview of current research on children's understanding of peace, conflict, and war, this book shows the richness of children's understanding in its sociocultural context. It challenges us to think deeply about the connections between human development, war, and peace and about how to educate for a culture of peace."—Michael G. Wessells, professor of psychology, Randolph-Macon College "This comprehensive book discusses research on how peace, conflict, and war are interpreted by youngsters from different cultures and how such knowledge can help educators contribute to building peace. Anyone interested in peace and conflict, child development, and education will find many useful insights and a wealth of diverse approaches for working with children in this important new book."—Åke Bjerstedt, professor emeritus of education, Lund University, Sweden "This landmark book will help open the way to advances in research on the development of children's conceptions of peace and on the practice of peace education." —Milton Schwebel, editor, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

A Call for International Peace Education

How Children Understand War and Peace

Arie W. Kruglanski

Wolfgang Stroebe

Carl F. Graumann

The study of stereotyping and prejudice is a study of human nature, group mem bership, and intergroup relationships. It sheds light on each of these aspects of social psychology. With respect to the first two, it has been observed that since groups provide the best framework for satisfying various human needs, individuals continuously organize themselves in collectives. They belong to a variety of groups-many of which they voluntarily select and some to which they are ascribed. Group membership, therefore, is one of the most salient and important of an indi vidual's characteristics. The implication of this characteristic is that human beings not only constantly classify other people into group categories, either by identifying membership or constructing their own categories, but also judge and evaluate them on this basis. The stereotypes and prejudice are outcomes of this process. They are the beliefs and attitudes toward members of another group. In addition, the study of stereotyping and prejudice reflects an interest in inter group relationships. While we recognize that a discussion of intergroup relation ships may focus on behaviors describing actions such as confrontations, violence, wars, cooperation, alliance, negotiation, or coordination, we also believe that each of these intergroup behaviors is mediated by perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes. In the case of intergroup behaviors, the listed actions are not performed instinctively or mindlessly, but are preceded by cognitive processes which, among other outputs, involve the formation of stereotypes and prejudice toward the other group.

Changing Conceptions

Stereotyping and Prejudice

"...carefully argued, this book will have special appeal to graduate students, faculty, social psychologists (notably those yearning for Lewinian Approaches), and group-oriented sociologists." -Choice What kind of shared beliefs in a society are of importance to social systems? What functions do they fulfill? How are they informed and disseminated? What are the societal consequences of shared beliefs? All of these questions are addressed in this book in which Daniel Bar-Tal develops the notion of societal psychology, which he states can contribute a social-psychological perspective to the study of a wide range of social problems in a society. He shows how societal psychology can fulfill the promise of early social psychologists by directing attention to the societal and cultural contexts in which individuals live and by examining the reciprocal influence between these contexts and individuals. In this comprehensive volume, four themes of societal belief: patriotism, security, siege mentality, and deligitimization, are examined through well-defined examples and systematic analysis. Researchers, students and practitioners in social psychology, sociology, political science and anthropology will be stimulated and engaged by this important contribution to the field.

Social Psychological Analysis

Shared Beliefs in a Society

Shared Beliefs in a Society is a much-needed contribution to societal psychology, a new emerging subfield of social psychology, which studies societies from a social psychological perspective. Daniel Bar-Tal presents his work of the last 15 years on shared beliefs in societies under one conceptual framework from which to identify beliefs held in common by entire societies and nations. Using examples form the history, politics, sociology, culture, and education from different societies, the author offers that social psychology can provide a unique perspective on society, but it can also benefit from integrating contributions from other social sciences into its own theorizing effort.

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, original, and holistic analysis of the socio-psychological dynamics of intractable conflicts. Daniel Bar-Tal's analysis rests on the premise that intractable conflicts share certain socio-psychological foundations, despite differences in context and other characteristics. He describes a full cycle of intractable conflicts - their outbreak, escalation, and reconciliation through peace building.

Socio-Psychological Foundations and Dynamics

Intractable Conflicts

Izhak Schnell

The Impacts of Lasting Occupation examines the effects that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories have had on Israeli society. The consequences of occupation are evident in all aspects of Israeli life, including its political, social, legal, economic, cultural, and psychological spheres.

Lessons from Israeli Society

The Impacts of Lasting Occupation

Miles Hewstone

The area of intergroup relations and social conflict has once again become a major focus of social psychological theorizing and research. One of the consequences of this advance in knowledge is that social psychologists have increasingly been called upon to apply their ideas in order to advise on existing conflicts. The significant contribution of this book is the way it builds on the research and theory of intergroup conflict and then applies this knowledge to the field. The areas discussed include industrial conflicts, interethnic conflicts and intergroup conflicts. The chapters range from reports of experimental laboratory research, through field studies, to theoretical-conceptual contributions. The new advances offered by this broad spectrum of topics will be of interest not only to social psychologists, but also to sociologists and political scientists.

Theory, Research and Applications

The Social Psychology of Intergroup Conflict

Yona Teichman

In the last two decades, the study of social stereotypes and prejudice has become one of the central interests in social psychology in particular. One reflection of this growing interest is the focus on shared stereotypes and prejudices. The primary reason for this development is the recognition that stereotypes and prejudice play a determinative role in shaping intergroup relations. In situations of conflict, they are simultaneously outcomes of the accumulated animosity between the involved groups and also feed on the continuation of the conflict by furnishing the cognitive-affective basis for the experienced mistrust by the parties. In spite of this recognition, no systematic analysis of the stereotypes and prejudice was carried out in real situations. This book tries to rectify this by applying a general and universal conceptual framework to the study of the acquisition and development of stereotypes and prejudice in a society involved in an intractable conflict.

Representations of Arabs in Israeli Jewish Society

Stereotypes and Prejudice in Conflict

This book provides a framework that sheds an illuminating light into the psyche of people involved in macro-level destructive intergroup conflicts, involving societies and ethnic groups, that take place continuously in various parts of the globe. It focuses on the socio-psychological repertoire that evolves in these societies or groups and which plays a determinative role in its dynamics. Specifically, this repertoire influences the nature of social reality about the conflict that society members construct, the involvement with and mobilization of society members for the conflict, the sense of solidarity and unity they experience, the conformity expected from society members, the pressure exerted on leaders, and the direction of action taken by the leadership. In addition, the book describes the changes in the socio-psychological repertoire that are necessary to ignite the peace process. Finally, it elaborates on the nature and the processes of peace building, including conflict resolution and reconciliation. The proposed conception assumes that although each conflict has its unique context and characteristics, the socio-psychological foundations and dynamics are similar. It offers a holistic and comprehensive outlook on the dynamics that characterize each stage and aspect of intractable conflicts. Each chapter systematically elucidates a particular part of the cycle, describing the theoretical frameworks and concepts, as well as presenting empirical data that was accumulated. The volume is an important contribution for all those who study intergroup conflicts and want to understand their dynamics. In addition, the book will interest the many people attempting to settle conflicts peacefully and who need knowledge about the socio-psychological vectors that influence their course and resolution.

A Social Psychological Perspective

Intergroup Conflicts and Their Resolution

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and holistic analysis of the socio-psychological dynamics of intractable conflicts. Daniel Bar-Tal's original conceptual framework is supported by evidence drawn from different disciplines, including empirical data and illustrative case studies. His analysis rests on the premise that intractable conflicts share certain socio-psychological foundations, despite differences in context and other characteristics. He describes a full cycle of intractable conflicts - their outbreak, escalation and reconciliation through peace building. Bar-Tal's framework provides a broad theoretical view of the of the socio-psychological repertoire that develops in the course of long-term and violent conflicts, outlines the factors affecting its formation, demonstrates how it is maintained, points out its functions and describes its consequences. The book also elaborates on the contents, processes and other factors involved in the peace building process.

Daniel Bar-Tal

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