Download Edward Swing (“Ted”) Graduate Assistant Office: 484

Conflict and Peacemaking Outline
Edward Swing (“Ted”)
Graduate Assistant
Office: 484 Science I
[email protected]
The Nature of Conflict
z Social Dilemmas
z Efforts in Peacemaking
z
Conflict
Individuals perceive an
incompatibility of their actions or
goals
z Often there is some incompatibility
of goals
z Individual's perceptions magnify
that incompatibility
z
Misperceptions of Others
z
z
Several social psychological
processes can bias our perceptions of
others: self-serving bias, fundamental
attribution error, stereotypes
This can lead to unfair negative
beliefs about an individual that
contribute to conflict
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Zero-sum games
z
z
z
z
Social Dilemmas
Gains for one party are accompanied
by equal losses for the other party
Most real life conflicts are not zerosum games
Both sides can simultaneously
achieve their goals or both can
simultaneously fail
Does not always lead to cooperation
Classic Prisoner's Dilemma
The best choice for each
individual, when selected by many
people, is harmful for everyone
z Not zero-sum games
z
Classic Prisoner's Dilemma
Combined Prison Sentence
Prisoner A
Prisoner B
Confess
No Confession
Neither Confesses
2 years
Confess
5 years \ 5 years
0 years \ 10 years
One Confesses
10 years
No confession
10 years \ 0 years
1 year \ 1 year
Both Confess
10 years
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Prisoner's Dilemma
Different Strategies
Always cooperate
z Always defect
z Tit-for-Tat: Start with cooperation,
then respond as your opponent
did on the previous round
z
Prisoner A
Prisoner B
Cooperate
Defect
Cooperate
+$3 \ +$3
-$6 \ +$6
Defect
+$6 \ -$6
-$1 \ -$1
Public Goods Dilemma
z
z
z
Everyone must contribute to a
common pool of goods in order to
maintain it
Individual: Advantageous to take
without contributing (same benefit,
less cost)
Group: Most people must contribute
or nobody benefits
Commons Dilemma
Everyone takes from a limited
resource that replenishes over
time
z Often occurs with environmental
resources
z Individually focused strategy leads
to depletion of the resource, hurts
group
z
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Peacemaking: Solutions to Social
Dilemmas
Regulation
z In commons dilemmas it can help
ensure the resource replenishes
and assures that distribution is fair
z Regulation has costs associated
with it and may not be viable
z
Benefits of Communication
z
z
z
z
Risks of Communication
Contact can increase liking through the
mere exposure effect
Facilitate trust: Dawes (1980, 1984)
experiment, participants in groups of
seven could either take $6 for themselves
or give $2 to each other person
When there was no communication, only
30% gave their money to the others
After communication, 80% chose to give
the money to the others
Deutsch's Trucking Company Game
Contact does not always work: an
equal status environment is
important
z Negative expectations may be met
z Exchanging threats may lead to
further conflict
z
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Cooperation
Common external threats
z Superordinate goals lead both
parties to work together for a
common purpose
z Shared group identity reduces
conflict
z
Summary
z
z
Conflicts are fueled by misperceptions
of others and the level of conflict with
their goals
Social dilemmas illustrate that acting
in ones personal interest sometimes
hurts the interests of the group
− Prisoner's Dilemma
− Public Goods Dilemma
− Commons Dilemma
Summary
Strategies that regulate behavior
help with some social dilemmas
z Creating cooperation can reduce
conflict
z Communication is an important
part of peacemaking, but only if it
increases trust or positive feelings
z
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