pychology of violence & non-violence.pptx

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1. Psychology of violence and non-violence

2. The Psychological Construction of Our World Our images of larger social entities, such as nations and countries, exist only because we believe they are real. We invest them with sovereign powers and sacred attachments. Many willingly kill or die for them. Why? Terror management theory. Cultural attitudes toward outsiders are therefore essential to consider for understanding aggressive societal policies. Role of media, story telling.

3. Aggression; Facing and Avoiding Danger The psycho-physiological ability to mobilize thoughts and behavior rapidly in the face of threats is essential to survival. Avoiding recognition of real world dangers is a manifestation of psychological denial. If we were continuously frightened by an immediate threat of nuclear annihilation or of floods to come with global warming, we likely would be overwhelmed with emotion and unable to act. Pushing danger from awareness has implications for the prevention of mass violence. Not fearing the enormity of such dangers, we may increase their risks by delaying action to prevent them. Capacity to deal with long term problem solving through creative dedication. Peace treaties.

4. Us and Them: Dehumanization and Enemies We retain long-term conceptions of others, some of whom are known personally, others known only by images of them offered to us by secondary sources. Bandura’s experiments. War depends upon a designation of out-groups as enemies.

5. How then do we turn people into professional warriors? The recruit is brought into an institution with an absolute hierarchy of command based on rank. Boot camp is harsh and aims to create a soldier who will follow orders, act courageously, and be able to kill. The transformation of people into warriors has less to do with human motives to fight than with the absence of other opportunities for education, job training, socially respected employment, and participation in the larger society. People behind masks. War often seems to require a nameless, faceless enemy. Capacity of empathy.

6. The causes of violence are multiple. The psychological literature usually divides these causes into four highly overlapping categories: Biological: wide array of neurological, physiological, or chemical influences on aggression and violence. Socialization: processes through which a person learns patterns of thinking, behavior, and feeling from his or her early life experiences Cognitive: refer to the ideas, beliefs, and patterns of thinking that emerge as a result of interactions with the world during a person’s lifetime. Situational factors: refer to the characteristics of the environment, such as stress or aggression in others, that encourage or engender violent behavior.

7. Biological factors: Child development researchers have found links between aggression and brain damage resulting from a variety of environmental factors: Toxic materials found in the environment (e.g., lead paint), Traumatic head injury (e.g., as the result of child abuse or accident), Dietary deficiencies (especially prenatal), Alcohol and drug ingestion the mother during critical fetal developmental stages, and Birth trauma. Once the deficits occur, attempts to remove or remedy the biological cause may include active biological treatment in the form of medication. However, a supportive and competent social environment has also been found to neutralize or reduce the effects that these biological factors exert on any propensity toward violence.

8. Sociological factors: Scripts of social behaviors. Research indicates that aggressive, antisocial, and violent behaviors are often learned from significant others (including TV, movie, or fictional characters) and are held in reserve for response to specific social situations.

9. Cognitive Factors: Research has revealed that violent individuals have different ways of processing and interpreting that information. “They tend to perceive hostility in others when there is no hostility”. Hostile attribution bias. Violent people are also less efficient at thinking of nonviolent ways to solve social conflicts and disagreements. Aggressive children and adolescents have more antisocial, violent beliefs than their nonaggressive peers ( Shahinfar , Kupersmidt , & Matza, 2001).

10. Situational factors: Often we seek the causes of violence in the person and ignore the contributing effects of the situation. Neighborhoods, schools, family, and peers can all be conducive to the development of violent behavior. The presence of weapons increases the chances that the conflict will occur in the first place and that it will have lethal consequences once it does occur. Poverty, frustration, and hopelessness are prevalent are at much greater risk for later involvement in violence than other children.

11. During their childhood, these individuals exhibit aggression, disobedience, and disruptions at home and in the school; are disliked and avoided by peers; are neglected by parents and teachers; and are likely to fail in school, eventually dropping out. Unsupervised and susceptible to the malicious influence of other delinquent youth, they grow up to be antisocial, aggressive, and violent young adults. They are likely to become involved in abusive spousal relationships, and they often abuse their own children.

12. Psychological Effects of Violence

13. Understanding of psychological causes and effects of violence helps in understanding of how to heal from violence Interventions for individuals Post-violence reconciliation

14. 1. Cycles: Effects Turning into Causes How violence causes subsequent violence- violence prevention Violence as a problem solving method post-violence symptoms can lead to adverse behavioral outcomes-more violence

15. 1.1.Homicide Rates after War Dane Archer (1984) examined pre-war and post-war homicide rates The size, impact and outcome of war Increased rates in both vicarious and defeated nations (all age groups and both genders) Nations with improved economies more frequently demonstrated increased rates Higher rates in victorious nations

16. Legitimation of violence model What all wars have in common is the unmistakable moral lesson that homicide is an acceptable outcome. Civilians are influenced by model of officially sanctioned killing The homicide rate tends to go down after abolition of death penalty. de-legitimation of violence model

17. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

18. 1.2.Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) impact of perpetrating violence in causing a traumatic outcome for the perpetrator Committing violence is a trauma (APA, WHO) for military personnel, being a perpetrator, witnessing atrocities, or killing the enemy Differences in the symptoms of those who killed vs those who did not kill.

19. Symptoms of PTSD Symptoms include persistent reliving of the traumatic event, hyper-vigilance, sleep disturbance, nightmares, a numbing of emotions, feelings of estrangement, inability to experience intimacy, withdrawal from feelings of connection to the outside world, and avoidance of frightening reminders. People with PTSD sometimes experience heightened fearfulness, amnesia, irritability, and uncontrollable outbursts of anger.

20. Coping with the Aftermath of War: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Soldiers return from war harmed physically or psychologically. Brain damage from head trauma, spinal cord injuries, amputated limbs, loss of sight or hearing, and shattered dreams are all common for thousands of wounded veterans. Among combat veterans, high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse reflect efforts to dull the torment, while high rates of domestic violence, child abuse, and suicide reflect the difficulty of doing so. Young children are also traumatized by the sights, sounds, and losses of war – punitive parenting.

21. Psychological causes of non-violence

22. Psychological causes of non-violence Attribution Theory Self-Serving Bias Out-Group Homogeneity Effect Socials Referencing and Role Expectations Cognitive Consistency Beliefs and Emotions as Motivators for Assertive Nonviolence

23. 1. Attribution Theory When people perceive behavior as normal, they tend to attribute it to the situation, but when they identify it as unexpected, they tend to attribute it to internal disposition. Violence in response to violence= Normal (situation) Non-violence in response to violence= unexpected (Non-violent disposition)

24. 2. Self-Serving Bias The self-serving bias refers to an individual's tendency to attribute positive events to their character, but attribute negative results or events to external factors unrelated to themselves and their faults.

25. 3. Out-Group Homogeneity Effect the perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members , e.g. "they are alike; we are diverse

26. 4. Social Referencing and Role Expectations monitor the actions of surrounding people to ascertain how to define the situation and what to do (social referencing ) or they respond to social interactions in the ways normally expected ( role expectations)

27. 5. Cognitive Consistency Humans are motivated by inconsistencies and a desire to change them. If a person is given facts that contradict previous attitudes, they may cope by changing the previous attitude to match the new information (Persuasion) If people are induced to behave in ways that are contrary to their attitudes, their drive for consistency can make them change their attitudes Bringing the contradictions to attention- contradiction is seen and addressed by changing the behavior (appealing to conscience)

28. 6. Beliefs and Emotions as Motivators for Assertive Nonviolence Forgiveness Forgiveness occurs when a “motivated decision by victims of an offense to let go of their legitimate anger and resentment toward the offender and to evaluate him or her (self) more favorably replaces extreme anger and fear with positive emotions Linked to religion Cooperativeness accept the influence of others, to believe in the mutual benefits of the relationship, We who seek justice will have to do justice to others (Gandhi)

29. Personality Agreeableness: trust, straightforwardness, altruism, modesty, individuals with high agreeableness are less involved in aggressive behavior and conflicts with others Low agreeableness- Destructive conflict resolution strategies, manipulation, guilt, and physical force Trust: A person who exhibits trust has confidence in others and a belief that they will act fairly and in good faith Cooperation, communication, better social relationships

30. Psychology of non- violence: Violence can never be understood solely in terms of its physicality—force, assault, or the infliction of pain—alone. Violence also includes assaults on the personhood, dignity, sense of worth or value of the victim.’’ Nonviolence , in turn, can be considered as the renunciation of all forms of violence—the refusal to employ either physical or psychological violence and withdrawal as far as possible from the sources of structural violence Many conceive of nonviolence simply as the renunciation of violence. The Hindu principle ahimsa (literally, not harming) was a great influence on Mohandas Gandhi, who dedicated himself to applying it to all spheres of his life, including politics

31. Psychology of non- violence: Ontological Assumptions: Truth: Satyagarh by Gandhi. No one should use violence as a weapon to enforce their version of truth Authority: Capacity to control the behaviors of self and others Being:Importance of context in facilitating violence. Compassion: Accepting the rights of others. Ends and Means: It is impossible to achieve good ends through immoral means.

32. Assignment # 2 Pick 3 top news headlines from any leading news channel and evaluate their nature via psychology of violence/non-violence. Expectation: You all will be highlighting the sociopolitical context of the news, its nature and impact on people. Special focus on culture of violence and peace. Total Marks= 10. De