Reconciling Nuers with Dinkas: A Girardian approach to conflict resolution

In the Sudan in the 1990s, violent conflict between the Nuers and the Dinkas, both African tribes in the South of Sudan, included rape, murder, the burning of homes and the abduction of children. This conflict ended through the Wunlit People-to-People Peace Conference, organised in 1999 by the New Sudan Council of Churches, with the support of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. In this essay the conflict and its resolution are interpreted through Rene Girard's theory of the scapegoat mechanism. The essay offers a series of guidelines for successful reconciliation. At the centre of the proceedings was the religious sacrifice of the white bull of Mabior. The resolution of the conflict confirms Girard's theory of sacrificial violence. In the author's view, Girard's theory offers a model for transforming debilitating, imitative and violent behaviours into beneficial and positive ones.     

A solution-oriented approach to conflict resolution in a work system

The growing involvement of counsellors in organisational development is addressed by describing the application of a solution-oriented family therapy approach to conflict resolution in a work system. An account of the intervention outlines the system's storying of the problem, the development of new meanings and the identification of solutions. Key concepts in this post-modern approach are linked with the practices employed.     

Homicide as conflict resolution

Homicide research at societal, subcultural, and interaction levels of analysis has not produced a comprehensive model for the killer‐victim transaction. But rules for organizing the experience of homicide can be generated from Simmel's definition of conflict as a “resolution of divergent dualisms” (1955:11). A model of homicide as a form of conflict resolution is demonstrated through interviews with a random sample of 35 adjudicated killers. Respondents’ definitions of homicide correspond to the conflict resolution model, with their verbal accounts, their socio‐psychological orientation to the victim at the point of the killing, their method of killing, and the general dynamics of the killer‐victim transaction, all varying as a resolution of a distinctive relationship, either between lovers, adversaries, or strangers. The situational definition casts homicide within the realm of normal behavior and at the same time delineates its distinctive features.     

Affirming the self to promote agreement with another: lowering a psychological barrier to conflict resolution

Two studies investigated the capacity of a self-affirmation intervention to lower a psychological barrier to conflict resolution. Study 1 used a role-play scenario in which a student negotiated with a professor for greater rewards for work on a collaborative project. A self-affirmation manipulation, in which participants focused on an important personal value, significantly reduced their tendency to derogate a concession offered by the professor relative to one that had not been offered. Study 2 replicated this effect and showed that the phenomenon did not depend on the self-affirmed participant's experience of a heightened sense of deservingness or a tendency to make positive attributions about the professor. Distraction and explicit mood enhancement were also ruled out as mediators of the self-affirmation effect, which appears to stem from motivational rather than explicit cognitive processes.     

Researcher and clinician: Role conflict and resolution

Group therapy investigations are often conducted by researchers rather than by experienced clinicians who also possess research expertise. Given the fact that doctorally prepared clinicians must demonstrate research competence in their education programs, it is surprising that there is not more research on group therapy. The literature indicates that research and group psychotherapy practice are considered quite separate entities. However, there is much that both processes have in common. The principal investigator's experience during a group psychotherapy research project suggested that the conflict between the roles of researcher and clinician may not be due to differences in the external processes but rather to difficulties in trying to combine them within one person. The value of the researcher-clinician is elaborated, and recommendations are offered.This paper was supported by a grant from the Group Psychotherapy Foundation.     

Problem-solving communication training: A behavioral approach to the treatment of parent-adolescent conflict

Abstract

A short-term behaviorally-oriented treatment program for parent-adolescent conflict is described. The problem-solving communication training program has been designed to teach family members: 1) effective skills for seeking independence; 2) methods of communicating without antagonizing and alienating each other; 3) methods for resolving specific disputed issues; 4) ways of identifying, challenging and restructuring inappropriate attitudes; and 5) methods for relating in an adult-adult manner rather than an adult-child manner. The general content of the treatment program is described, procedures for treatment are presented and an illustrative case study is reviewed.     

The resolution of approach-avoidance conflict

Betting problems which established approach-avoidance conflicts were administered to college students in five experiments. The results of these experiments led to the development of a two-gradient model of approach-avoidance conflict. This model completed the integration of the essential postulates in Miller, 1944, Miller, 1948 models, reduced the number of these postulates, modified the resolution postulate, and, at the same time, allowed an increase in the number of different kinds of approach-avoidance conflicts that could be considered. A review of previous conflict studies led to the conclusions that two different procedures are used to produce conflict and that a single-gradient model should be used when conflict is produced by the punishment of an approach response, while the two-gradient model developed in the present experiments should be used when conflicts are produced by the simultaneous arousal of independently established approach and avoidance tendencies.     

Orientations to conflict: Gender, attributions, resolution strategies, and self-monitoring

Gender differences in relationship quality, conflict perceptions, reported conflict strategy use, and self-monitoring orientations were examined in a sample of undergraduates. It was predicted that males and high self-monitoring individuals would see their relationships as less intimate, themselves as less committed, and would endorse more frequent use of uncooperative and avoidant strategies. Participants (n=124) completed the following: a measure of conflict perceptions; a Conflict Strategy Scale measuring frequency of Cooperative, Uncooperative, and Denial-Avoidant strategies; and Snyder’s Self-Monitoring Scale. Compared to females, males scored higher in self-monitoring, saw friendships as less intimate and stable, saw their conflicts as more stable, and endorsed more frequent use of Denial-Avoidant strategies. Masculine orientations to conflict reflected increased self-presentational concerns and perceptions that minimized the personal relevance of conflict.     

Distinct conflict resolution deficits related to different facets of Schizophrenia

An important issue in understanding the nature of conflict processing is whether it is a unitary or multidimensional construct. One way to examine this is to study whether people with impaired conflict processing exhibit a general pattern of deficits or whether they exhibit impairments in distinct aspects of conflict processing. One group who might exhibit conflict deficits are people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disorder, with one way to break down the heterogeneity of schizophrenia is to examine specific symptoms. Previous research has found that specific symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with specific deficits in conflict processing. In particular, disorganization is associated with increased response conflict, alogia is associated with increased retrieval conflict, and anhedonia is associated with increased emotional conflict. Moreover, there is evidence that different types of conflict processing are unassociated with each other. This evidence suggests that conflict processing is a multidimensional construct and that different aspects of schizophrenia are associated with impairments in processing different types of conflict.     

Behavioral decisions during interpersonal conflict resolution

A laboratory study was conducted to examine the role of explorative decision making for interpersonal conflict resolution. Participants were 64 male students, who had to negotiate for an outcome distribution against bogus enactment of two confederates. Questionnaire and observational data, which were taken before, during and after the negotiation revealed strong support for hypothesized effects of coping with situational antagonism. Results indicate that substantial shifts take place according to locus of decision control and that behavior is determined by different decision preferences as conflict resolution proceeds.     

认知负荷取向下基于记忆-反应冲突的欺骗检测

欺骗检测一直是心理学的重要研究问题。基于欺骗理论的认知视角, 研究者提出欺骗检测的认知负荷取向。采用隐瞒信息测试这一测谎范式, 通过操纵认知负荷影响个体在虚假反应时的记忆-反应冲突解决过程, 考察增加认知负荷对欺骗检测的影响, 以期更好地揭示欺骗检测的认知机制。在此基础上, 以普通人群和犯罪嫌疑人为被试探查基于记忆-反应冲突的欺骗检测的行为和生理指标, 并根据获得的行为和生理指标, 采用机器学习方法进行建模, 预测个体的欺骗行为。研究结果将服务于司法、安防和人际交往等领域的欺骗检测。     

Tackling conflict: a beyond opposites approach

The issue of conflict is pervasive to most human undertakings at both individual/intra level and group level. Conflicts are the source of internal and external suffering. It has been argued by many authors that although humans have advanced in the technological sphere tremendously and managed to find solutions to countless scientific and material challenges, their ability to effectively resolve internal and external aspects of conflicts remains elusive. Given the level of pain and suffering that can derive from both psychological and social conflicts, it can be argued that any advances in helping improve the resolution of conflicts can have immense benefits in alleviating human suffering making this issue a very worthwhile area of study. Accordingly this paper aims to describe a developing counselling methodology for addressing conflict. The methodology, which was originally inspired by Fuzzy Logic, adopts a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) perspective despite awareness of its limitations. The paper traces the origins of the methodology and the areas within counselling it could be applied to. The paper concludes with recommendations regarding the relevance of this approach to an increasingly multicultural environment.     

Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: evidence from the ANT task

The need of bilinguals to continuously control two languages during speech production may exert general effects on their attentional networks. To explore this issue we compared the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals in the attentional network task (ANT) developed by Fan et al. [Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D. Sommer, T., Raz, A., Posner, M.I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340-347]. This task is supposed to tap into three different attentional networks: alerting, orienting and executive control. The results revealed that bilingual participants were not only faster in performing the task, but also more efficient in the alerting and executive control networks. In particular, bilinguals were aided more by the presentation of an alerting cue, and were also better at resolving conflicting information. Furthermore, bilinguals experienced a reduced switching cost between the different type of trials compared to monolinguals. These results show that bilingualism exerts an influence in the attainment of efficient attentional mechanisms by young adults that are supposed to be at the peak of their attentional capabilities.     

Evidence for task-specific resolution of response conflict

When a target requires different responses to a relevant and to an irrelevant task in a task-switching paradigm, there is response conflict. This target-induced response conflict was combined with conflict caused by a subliminally presented prime presented prior to the target. We found that target-related conflict reduced prime-induced conflict effects within the same trial. However, target-related conflict modified prime-related conflict effects according to the irrelevant stimulus-response (S-R) rule, but not according to the relevant S-R rule. Moreover, trial-to-trial modulations of the target congruency effect were observed in task repetition trials, but not in task switch trials. These results indicate that conflict resolution mechanisms, at least under the present circumstances, operate in a strictly task-specific manner.     

The new social psychology of France: The Girardian School

Like Lacan, Girard's thought is centered not on appetite for objects but on the relation between the self and the subjectivity of the other, in this case by way of what Girard calls ‘mimesis’, a tendency to imitate not only the actions but also the inward attitudes, and especially the desires, of others; prompted by a sense of deficiency, we seek out something to desire, hoping to attain through it the ontological plenitude symbolized for us by the (god‐like) ‘mediator’ or model of our desire. Girard's theory of social origins is rooted in the idea that mimesis leads to generalized conflict which becomes resolved through a ‘victimizing mechanism’ culminating in a ‘sacrifice’. Girardian political economists, such as Paul Dumouchel, Jean‐Pierre Dupuy, and André Orléan, have drawn on these ideas in analyzing market mechanisms and the concepts of wealth and value. Jean‐Michel Oughourlian, a psychiatrist, has applied them to the analysis of suggestion and hypnosis, hysteria, and possession. The Girardian economists’ unmasking of the idea of wealth as an idol symbolizing our fascination with images of ontological plenitude adds a new element to the traditional Christian critique of avarice as well as the Buddhist critique of desire, and Oughourlian's analysis of the phenomena of possession and sorcery throws a new light both on traditional Wester demonology and on rituals of possession.     

同胞冲突及其解决:家庭子系统的影响

同胞冲突是指在一个完整的家庭中, 具有相同生身父母的两个或多个人在行为、目标或活动上所表达出的不相容, 其通常表现为争吵和敌对情绪以及相互间的攻击行为。父母干预同胞冲突的方式分为孩子中心策略、控制策略和不干预策略。家庭系统理论指出, 家庭是一个有等级结构的、动态的系统, 这个系统中的子系统(包括父母婚姻关系、亲子关系和同胞关系)是相互联系、相互影响的。基于这一理论, 探讨家庭子系统对同胞冲突的影响, 整合建构同胞冲突的理论假设模型, 以便从多路径的角度去分析同胞冲突的产生机制。未来的研究需要对同胞冲突及其相关概念进行区分或整合, 关注父母干预同胞冲突的方式的影响因素, 并且以发展的眼光去看待同胞冲突。     

Canadian bulk water exports: Analyzing the sun belt conflict using the graph model for conflict resolution

A conflict over the proposed bulk export of water from Canada is systematically studied using the graph model for conflict resolution in order to illustrate how strategic conflicts of this type can be better understood and managed. The ongoing conflict involving a US company, Sun Belt Water Inc., and the Canadian federal and provincial governments is modeled and analyzed using the graph model methodology. This dispute reflects the kinds of controversies that can arise when international trade laws, which stress competition and profits, are in conflict with environmental and social laws. The Sun Belt conflict is especially interesting because of its evolution over several stages; at each stage of the conflict, the objectives of the disputants, and their strategic implications, can be realistically modeled and thereby investigated using the graph model. Amer Obeidi received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan in 1990 and M.A.Sc. in Management Sciences in 2002 from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree in the Department of Systems Design Engineering, at the University of Waterloo. His currents research interests include confrontation analysis, conflict analysis, negotiation, cognitive and emotional processes effect on decision making, and choice theory. Dr. Hipel’s major research interests are the development and application of conflict resolution and time series analysis techniques from a systems design engineering perspective. The main application areas of these decision technologies are water resources management, hydrology, environmental engineering and sustainable development. Dr. Hipel is the author/co-author of four books, nine edited books, many journal papers and is an associate editor of six international journals. Moreover, he is a professional Engineer and has carried out consulting activities with engineering firms, government agencies, and utilities in many countries. Director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Kilgour’s research interests lie at the intersection of mathematics, social science, and engineering. He has applied game theory and related formal techniques to analyze decision problems in international security and arms control, environmental management, negotiation and arbitration, voting, fair division, and coalition formation, and has pioneered the development of systems for decision support in strategic conflict. His most recent books are Perfect Deterrence (Cambridge) and Designing Institutions for Environmental and Resource Management (Edward Elgar).