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.

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.

This collection, published in 1988, brings an innovative perspective to research in social cognition. It assembles fifteen chapters by many leading scholars in the field, which together provide an innovative and integrative analysis of the phenomenon of human knowledge. Three themes dominate the book. The first concerns the nature of knowledge and the way it differs from cognition. The second concerns the issue of generality versus specificity in conceptions of social knowledge. Finally, the third theme concerns the fundamental question of knowledge validity. The volume as a whole refreshingly broadens the scope of social psychological inquiry and opens up exciting areas of study.

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.

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.

??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.

Built on the premise that trust is one of the most important factors in intergroup relations, conflict management and resolution at large, this volume explores trust and its mechanisms and operations especially in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, this volume focuses not only on the nature of trust and distrust in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it also explores how it is possible to build and increase trust on both sides in the conflict, a necessity in order to advance the stalled peace process. As trust is a concept that is interdisciplinary by nature, so are this volume's contributors: sociologists, philosophers, sociologists, social psychologists, political scientists, as well as experts in the Middle East, Islam, Judaism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict bring together real multidisciplinary perspectives that complement each other and then provide a comprehensive picture about the nature of trust and distrust and its ramification and implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Divided into five thematic parts, the volume begins with by examining the theoretical basis of trust research from multiple perspectives. Then, it presents chapters on trust, distrust, and trust-building in other conflicts around the world. The third part is a unique feature of this volume as it takes a contextual approach: it emphasizes the importance of particular cultural and religious considerations on both sides of the conflict. The thrust of the book is examined in the next section. Part IV discusses and analyses various aspects of trust, and specifically distrust, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, the chapters of this part take the perspectives of the participants in the conflict: Israeli Jews, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Finally, the volume concludes by providing an integrative conceptual perspective based on the principles of social and political psychology. An important goal of this volume is to not only explore trust and distrust in an intractable conflict, but also to provide practical multi-disciplinary outlooks and implications to advance trust building in two conflict ridden societies-Israeli and Palestinian, and other societies around the world.

This groundbreaking volume explores the concept of self-censorship as it relates to individuals and societies and functions as a barrier to peace. Defining self-censorship as the act of intentionally and voluntarily withholding information from others in the absence of formal obstacles, the volumes introduces self-censorship as one of the socio-psychological mechanisms that prevent the free flow of information and thus obstruct proper functioning of democratic societies. Moreover it analyzes this socio-psychological phenomenon specifically in the context of intractable conflict, providing much evidence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moving from the micro to the macro level, the collected chapters put the individual as the focal unit of psychological analysis while embedding the individual in multiple levels of context including families, organizations, and societies. Following a firm conceptual explanation of self-censorship, a selection of both emerging and prominent scholars describe the ways in which self-censorship factors into families, organizations, education, academia, and other settings. Further chapters discuss self-censorship in military contexts, narratives of political violence, and the media. Finally, the volume concludes by looking at the ways in which harmful self-censorship in societies can be overcome, and explores the future of self-censorship research. In doing so, this volume solidifies self-censorship as an important phenomenon of social behavior with major individual and collective consequences, while stimulating exciting and significant new research possibilities in the social and behavioral sciences. Conceptually carving out a new area in peace psychology, Self Censorship in Contexts of Peace and Conflict will appeal to psychologists, sociologists, peace researchers, political scientists, practitioners, and all those with a wish to understand the personal and societal functioning of individuals in the real world.

Built on the premise that trust is one of the most important factors in intergroup relations, conflict management and resolution at large, this volume explores trust and its mechanisms and operations especially in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, this volume focuses not only on the nature of trust and distrust in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it also explores how it is possible to build and increase trust on both sides in the conflict, a necessity in order to advance the stalled peace process. As trust is a concept that is interdisciplinary by nature, so are this volume's contributors: sociologists, philosophers, sociologists, social psychologists, political scientists, as well as experts in the Middle East, Islam, Judaism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict bring together real multidisciplinary perspectives that complement each other and then provide a comprehensive picture about the nature of trust and distrust and its ramification and implications for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Divided into five thematic parts, the volume begins with by examining the theoretical basis of trust research from multiple perspectives. Then, it presents chapters on trust, distrust, and trust-building in other conflicts around the world. The third part is a unique feature of this volume as it takes a contextual approach: it emphasizes the importance of particular cultural and religious considerations on both sides of the conflict. The thrust of the book is examined in the next section. Part IV discusses and analyses various aspects of trust, and specifically distrust, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Significantly, the chapters of this part take the perspectives of the participants in the conflict: Israeli Jews, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Finally, the volume concludes by providing an integrative conceptual perspective based on the principles of social and political psychology. An important goal of this volume is to not only explore trust and distrust in an intractable conflict, but also to provide practical multi-disciplinary outlooks and implications to advance trust building in two conflict ridden societies-Israeli and Palestinian, and other societies around the world.

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.

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.

"Individuals who live in groups hold common beliefs which define their reality, not only as persons, but also as group members. This reality becomes especially important when group members become aware that they share beliefs and are convinced that these beliefs characterize them as a group. In this case common beliefs become group beliefs." With this statement, Dr. Bar-Tal begins his far-reaching analysis of beliefs as a group phenomenon. Group beliefs are shown to have important behavioral, cognitive, and affective implications for group members and the group as a whole. They may contribute to the behavioral direction a group takes, coordinate group activities, determine the intensity and involvement of group members, and influence the way group members affect the leaders. This book introduces and articulates the implications of a new concept of group beliefs, shedding new light on the structure and processes of groups, focusing on such phenomena as group formation, subgrouping, splits, mergence and group disintegration. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, this integrative conception opens new avenues to the study and understanding of group behavior.

Protracted occupation has become a rare phenomenon in the 21st century. One notable exception is Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which began over four decades ago, after the Six-Day War in 1967. While many studies have examined the effects of occupation on the occupied society, which bears most of the burdens of occupation, this book directs its attention to the occupiers. The effects of occupation on the occupying society are not always easily observed and are therefore difficult to study. Yet through their analysis, the authors of this volume show how occupation has detrimental effects on the occupiers. The effects of occupation do not stop in the occupied territories, but penetrate deeply into the fabric of the occupying society. The Impacts of Lasting Occupation examines the effects that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories has 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. Occupation has shaped Israel's national identity as a whole, in addition to the day-to-day lives of Israeli citizens. Daniel Bar-Tal and Izhak Schnell have brought together a wide range of academic experts to show how occupation has led to the deterioration of democracy and moral codes, threatened personal security, and limited economic growth in Israel.

...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.