Essays
-
Aggression and Victimization - Bauman, Sheri
This essay details the historical progression of theories attempting to explain human aggression and victimization across the lifespan. Different theoretical lenses allowed for a comprehensive examination of the nuances between aggression and victimization, as supported by landmark experimental research studies conducted in the social and behavioral sciences. In addition, the neurobiology of aggression was discussed as an area of future research where professionals from multiple fields could collaborate in order to better understand the intersection of biology and the environment and how it impacts the development of individuals. -
Bullying and Cyberbullying - Bauman, Sheri
The purpose of this essay is to explore diverse forms of bullying according to multiple theoretical frameworks of aggression, victimization, and human development. We comment on existing anti‐bullying legislation and bullying prevention programs. Bullying manifests in a variety of settings, and with the popularity and accessibility of the Internet, a new form of bullying has become prevalent: cyberbullying or cyber aggression. Different forms of cyber aggression are discussed, as well as psychosocial implications for both aggressors and victims. Current trends in bullying and cyber aggression such as Internet trolling and innovative prevention strategies are detailed, as well as potential areas of future research in the social and behavioral sciences. -
Interdependence, Development, and Interstate Conflict - Gartzke, Erik
A nation's economy is the engine that powers, produces, and procures the weapons of war. Economic interests may benefit from war through increased production or they may oppose contests that promise to interfere with profits from trade and investment. Punitive raids, a major invasion, or an attack from the air may also hamper the productive potential of a nation, encouraging its leaders to think twice before using force. -
Mediation in International Conflicts - Beardsley, Kyle
Scholars of international conflict mediation have made strides in the last two decades in understanding when mediation occurs and when it is successful. The rationalist framework has allowed theorists to sharpen and expand on early insights, and research using quantitative methods continues to be an important part of the field. Gaining a sense of when disputants might use mediation disingenuously and expanding the scope and comparability of data sets on mediation will push both the study and practice of mediation onto useful new ground. -
Political Conflict and Youth: A Long‐Term View - Barber, Brian K.
Over the past two decades, the scientific study of youth experience with political conflict has come into its own as a recognized, vibrant field of scholarship. This essay briefly reviews the state of the research. It notes the upsurge in volume and increase in the sophistication of the research, including larger and more representative samples, inclusion of locally defined assessments of youth functioning, and the study of the broader social ecology of youth who experience political conflict. These elements of progress notwithstanding, the research remains overwhelming driven by psychopathology models and has yet to extend either to systematically explore a broader focus on youth social, civic, economic, and political functioning or to seriously consider youth's cognitive and behavioral engagements in political conflict. -
Political Psychology and International Conflict - McDermott, Rose
Political psychology takes an individual level of analysis approach to the study of international conflict. This study has traditionally investigated the psychological foundations of decision making among elite leaders in the area of war and peace. Psychological models that have been applied to the examination of this area include those taken from cognitive psychology and evolutionary models. Such approaches include the application of prospect theory to cases of decision making under conditions of risk. Similar work in this area further explores the nature of psychological biases in decision making, particularly in the area of risk assessment. More recent work has explored the biological underpinnings of aggression, and their contribution to the emergence of violent behavior. Past work has tended to neglect the role of emotion, but more recent work has investigated these forces more fully. Future work that seeks to incorporate both biological and environmental forces in precipitating violence appears challenging but worthwhile. In addition, experimental methods drawn from psychology have been applied to the study of international conflict. The use of field experiments to explore the psychological forces that both motivate and sustain conflict appears promising. -
Public Opinion and International Conflict - Berinsky, Adam J.
Should the opinions of citizens in a democracy matter in decisions of war and peace? The answer to this critical question depends on the stock we place in the ability of the mass public to come to meaningful decisions regarding the conduct of foreign affairs. In this essay, I examine public opinion about war over the past 75 years and make the case that our assessment of the mass public depends in large part on the nature of the information it receives from political leaders. Contrary to the conventional wisdom regarding public opinion and foreign policy that emerges from scholarly and journalistic accounts, events do not directly influence the public. Instead, citizens learn about wars largely from political leaders. Public opinion during times of war is therefore shaped by many of the same attachments and enmities that matter in domestic politics. As in other areas of politics, public opinion is primarily structured by the ebb and flow of partisan and group‐based political conflict. -
Reconciliation and Peace‐Making: Insights from Studies on Nonhuman Animals - Koski, Sonja E.
Conflict resolution is the part and parcel of living in groups. In social circumstances competition over limited resources is inevitable. For individuals to benefit from group living, the costs should not disrupt social cohesion or relationships. Animals use many ways to avoid conflicts and to mitigate their damage. Post‐conflict reconciliation is an effective way to reduce emotional stress after aggression and to repair the damaged relationship between the former opponents. We now know that reconciliation is common in social species with individualized relationships. The necessity to reconcile is higher when individuals fight with someone who provides them with valuable benefits. Also, general benevolence between individuals reduces the risk to reconcile, increasing thus its likelihood. There are also preventive mechanisms to avoid costly conflicts, and ways to prevent its escalation once started. In many species, bystanders interact with conflict participants when aggression is over, often with affinitive behavior. Such ‘bystander affiliation” serves many functions, some of which may be cognitively demanding and resemble human consolation or mediating. However, we still know little of the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of animal conflict resolution. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior is the next step in animal conflict resolution research. It will help illuminate the mysterious minds of social animals and, ultimately, the evolutionary history of human peacekeeping. -
War and Social Movements - Tarrow, Sidney
In his scientific production, Charles Tilly broke new ground in two major areas: the study of war and state‐building and the study of contentious politics and social movements. Many scholars followed him and elaborated on each of these strands, but few—including Tilly—attempted to link them together. Both in the historical war and state‐building and in recent “new wars,” social movements—and contentious politics in general—play a vigorous but a poorly understood role. Drawing on Tilly's insights, this essay sets out five general hypotheses relating contention to war making and illustrates them with evidence from three historical episodes from French, American, and Italian history, and from the recent experience of the “global war on terror.”