Conflict arises from perceived incompatibilities between parties and can be exacerbated by social dilemmas, competition, injustice and misperception. Key causes of conflict include pursuing self-interest at the expense of others in social dilemmas, win-lose competition fostering negative views of opponents, perceived inequity in outcomes, and biases that lead parties to see themselves positively and opponents negatively. Peace can be achieved through contact between parties, cooperation on shared goals, open communication to find mutually agreeable solutions, and conciliation where one party makes unilateral concessions to build trust.

1. Conflict and
Peacemaking

2. What is Conflict?
• A perceived incompatibility of actions or goals.
• A strong disagreement between people, groups,
etc., that results in an angry argument.
• Conflict occurs when one party decides that the
way things are is not okay and seeks change, but
that change is not agreed to by the other party.

3. What Creates Conflict?
1. Social Dilemmas
2. Competition
3. Perceived Injustice
4. Misperception

4.  There is a perceived breach of faith and trust
between individuals.
 There is unresolved disagreement that has
escalated to an emotional level.
 There is miscommunication leading to unclear
expectations.
 There are personality clashes.
 There are differences in acquired values.
 There is underlying stress and tension.
 There are ego problems.

5. 1. Social Dilemmas
• Is a situation in which an individual profits from
selfishness unless everyone chooses the selfish
alternative, in which case the whole group
looses.
Example:
1.The prisoner’s dilemma
2.The tragedy of the commons

6. Social Trap
- A situation in which the conflicting parties,
by each rationally pursuing its self-interest,
become caught in mutually destructive
behavior.

7. Non – Zero – Sum Games
- Games in which outcomes need not to sum to
zero. (With cooperation, both can win; with
competition, both can loose) – Also called Mixed –
Motive Situations.

8. Resolving Social Dilemmas
1.Regulation
2.Small Is Beautiful
3.Communication
4.Changing the Payoffs
5.Appeals to Altruistic Norms

9. To summarize, we can minimize destructive
entrapment in social dilemmas by
establishing rules that regulate self-serving
behavior, by keeping groups small, by
allowing people to communicate, by
changing payoffs to make cooperation more
rewarding, and by invoking compelling
altruistic norms.

10. 2. Competition
• In Muzafer Sherif’s (1966) experiment, win-lose
competition had produced intense conflict,
negative images of the out-group, and strong in-
group cohesiveness and pride.

11. 3. Perceived Injustice
• “That’s unfair!” “What a rip-off!” “We deserve better!”
• Such comments illustrate conflicts produced by perceived
injustice.
But What is Justice?
• People perceived justice as equity – the distribution of
rewards in proportion on individuals’ contribution (Walster
& others, 1978).
My outcomes = Your outcomes
My inputs Your inputs

12. • Implication of Equity Theory – is that the more
competent and worthy people feel (the more they value
their inputs), the more they will feel under benefited and
thus eager to get even (Ross & others, 1971).
• Intense social protests generally come from those who,
perhaps after being educated, believe themselves
worthy of more than they are receiving.
“From each according to his abilities, to each
according to his needs” – Karl Marx

13. 4. Misperception
True
Incompatibility
Misperception
• Many conflicts contain
a core of truly
incompatible goals
surrounded by a larger
exterior of
misperception.

14. Seeds of Misperception
Self-serving Bias
Lead individuals
and groups to
accept credit for
their good
deeds and
shuck
responsibility
for bad deeds.
Self-justify
Inclines
people to
deny the
wrong of their
evil acts that
cannot be
shucked off.
Fundamental
Attribution Error
Each side
sees the
other’s anger
as reflecting
an evil
personality.

15. Preconceptions
One then filters
the information
and interprets it
to fit one’s
preconceptions.
Polarize
Groups
polarize these
self-serving,
self-justifying,
biasing
tendencies.
Groupthink
One symptom
of groupthink is
the tendency to
perceive one’s
own group as
moral and
strong, the
opposition as
evil and weak.

16. In-group Bias
The mere fact
of being in a
group triggers
an in-group
bias.
Stereotype
Negative
stereotypes,
once formed,
are often
resistant to
contradictory
evidence.

17. Misperception
Mirror-Image Perception
• Refers to the reciprocal
views of one another
often held by parties in
conflict.
Shifting Perceptions
• If misperceptions
accompany conflict, then
they should appear and
disappear as conflicts
wax and wane.
• The same process that
creates the enemy’s
image can reverse that
image when the enemy
becomes an ally.

18. How can peace be achieved?
1. Contact
2. Cooperation
3. Communication
4. Conciliation

19. 1. Contact
• Desegregation
- The process of ending the separation of two groups
usually referring to races.
Example: (Cairns & Hestone, 2002) experiment on
mixing the White and Black in a small conference they
had.

20. • We will be most likely to befriend people who differ
from us if their out-group identify is initially minimized –
if we see them as essentially like us rather than feeling
threatened by their being different.
• Friendship is a key to successful contact.

21. 2. Cooperation
Common
External Threat
Having a
common
enemy unifies
groups.
Superordinate
Goals
Goals that
unite all in a
group and
require
cooperative
effort.
Cooperative
Learning
Where in a
given situation
everyone in a
group learned
something
new and
beneficial to
them.

22. 3. Communication
1. Bargaining – seeking an agreement through direct negotiations
between parties.
2. Mediation – an attempt by a neutral third party to resolve a conflict
by facilitating communications and offering suggestions.
• Integrative Agreements – win-win agreements that reconcile both
parties’ interests to their mutual benefit.
3. Arbitration – resolution of a conflict by a neutral third party who
studies both sides and imposes a settlement.

23. 4. Conciliation
• GRIT “Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in
Tension Reduction”
- The basic idea is that one side can initiate de-escalation
by making a small, unilateral (one-sided) concession to the
other side, and at the same time, communicating a desire
or even an expectation that this gesture will be matched
with unequal response from the opponent does response
from the opponent. If the opponent does respond positively,
the first party can make a second concession, and a “peace
spiral” begins.

24. The End =)