Psychology and the Current Situation

1. Psychology and the Current Situation • Tony Stavely • Department of Psychology • Keene State College • http://wcb.keene.edu/~tstavely/ • tstavely@keene.edu

2. Overview • Who am I and what's this about? • Some psychology • Applications • What is one to do?

3. Psychology • Thoughts, feelings, and actions • Assessing situations • Attitudes and social participation • Stress

4. Thoughts, feelings, actions • Thoughts • Theory-making, story-telling • Information, absence of information, misinformation, disinformation • Estimation: biased and representative sampling

5. Thoughts • Same vs. different • In psychology, generalization vs. discrimination • Distortions of judgment • Assimilation (underestimating small differences - "we" are all alike) • Contrast (overestimating larger differences "they" are very different from us) • Mainstream culture's tendency to treat marginal people as Other, different, beyond normal

6. Thinking: complexity • Afghanistan • Multiple ethnic groups • Pakhtun, Hazara, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baloch, Nuristani • Indo-European, Turkic, Mongol languages • "Tribal," "urbanized" groups • Multiple religious groups • Sunni, Shi'a

7. Complexity: Afghanistan from the University of Texas at Austin library online map collection

8. Complexity: Afghanistan BBC map

9. Thoughts, feelings, actions • Feelings • Questions • What am I feeling? • What's causing this feeling? • What to do about it? • Response depends on accuracy of answers: • Changes the situation for the better • Fails to change the situation • Changes the situation for the worse

10. Thoughts, feelings, actions • Feelings • Culture teaches range of possible answers • What can be felt • What causes such feelings • Display rules • These days • Anger • Fear, anxiety • Depression • Patriotism, courageous determination

11. Thoughts, feelings, actions • Actions • Based on assessment of situation • Based on accessible experience • Subject to social influence • Produce consequences • Action/consequence pairs stored in memory • Memory contents only part of what gets "remembered"

12. Assessing situations • Reality vs human judgment

13. Assessing situations • What affects judgment? • Reality itself • Our expectations from past experience, other people's claims, cultural learning • Benefits and costs • Benefits of true positive, true negative judgments • Costs of false positive, false negative judgments

14. Attitudes • Definition: thoughts, feelings, actions about some target • like/dislike, attraction/repulsion • Rooted in self • Assessing things, situations • Ego defense • Ego enhancement, value expression

15. Attitudes • Rooted in community • Social adjustment • Social expression • Social identity • Objects of attitudes are socially constructed too

16. Social participation • Our narrative: the individual is the basic element in society • Many other cultures: the individual is a creature of the group • Both individualistic and communal perspectives are true - examine both • Thoughts, feelings, actions have a major social dynamic • Origination, process, target

17. Stress • Heightened tension, vigilance • Stress equation • Stress = Motivation x (Demands - Coping resources) • Coping resources • Social support • Knowledge of the situation • Action plans • Self-management capabilities

18. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Authoritarian personality syndrome • Characteristics • Excessive conventionalism • Aggression against disobedience • Submission to superiors • Importance of power, toughness • General hostility, cynical worldview • Increases under threat • "They" are bad, "we" are good • Anyone not with us is against us

19. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Intractable ethnonational conflicts • Characteristics • Totality • Protractedness • Centrality • Violence • Perception of irreconcilability

20. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Intractable ethnonational conflicts • Example: Israel-Palestine confrontation • Clash of narratives • Villainization of opponent • Exclusive legitimacy • History of victimization • Intermingled populations • Double asymmetry of power • Politicization of religion

21. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Intractable ethnonational conflicts • Psychological dynamics • Coping mechanisms become societal beliefs, shared cognitions • Our goals are just • Opponent has no legitimacy • We can do no wrong • We are the real victims

22. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Intractable ethnonational conflicts • More psychological dynamics • Maintenance of societal beliefs • Biased selection of information • Biased interpretation of information • Biased elaboration of information

23. Combining thoughts, feelings, actions • Intractable ethnonational conflicts • Possibilites of resolution • Change beliefs that keep sides from negotiating • Leaders and negotators must change many beliefs • Society at large must do so too • Change definitions • Time is required, especially because narratives are self-maintaining, all-encompassing

24. What to do • Keep seeking information • Treat statements as tentative • Ask questions • About own reactions • About other people's claims • Clarify values • Look again

25. Afgan refugees Returning with food: BBC photos from refugee camp near Peshawar