Edward Swing (“Ted”) Graduate Assistant Office: 484 Science I eswing@iastate

1. Edward Swing (“Ted”) Graduate Assistant Office: 484 Science I eswing@iastate.edu

2. Conflict and Peacemaking Outline • The Nature of Conflict • Social Dilemmas • Efforts in Peacemaking

3. Conflict • Individuals perceive an incompatibility of their actions or goals • Often there is some incompatibility of goals • Individual's perceptions magnify that incompatibility

4. Misperceptions of Others • 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

5. Zero-sum games • Gains for one party are accompanied by equal losses for the other party • Most real life conflicts are not zero-sum games • Both sides can simultaneously achieve their goals or both can simultaneously fail • Does not always lead to cooperation

6. Social Dilemmas • The best choice for each individual, when selected by many people, is harmful for everyone • Not zero-sum games

7. Classic Prisoner's Dilemma

8. Classic Prisoner's Dilemma

9. Prisoner's Dilemma

10. Different Strategies • Always cooperate • Always defect • Tit-for-Tat: Start with cooperation, then respond as your opponent did on the previous round

11. Public Goods Dilemma • 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

12. Commons Dilemma • Everyone takes from a limited resource that replenishes over time • Often occurs with environmental resources • Individually focused strategy leads to depletion of the resource, hurts group

13. Peacemaking: Solutions to Social Dilemmas • Regulation • In commons dilemmas it can help ensure the resource replenishes and assures that distribution is fair • Regulation has costs associated with it and may not be viable

14. Benefits 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

15. Risks of Communication • Contact does not always work: an equal status environment is important • Negative expectations may be met • Exchanging threats may lead to further conflict

16. Deutsch's Trucking Company Game

17. Cooperation • Common external threats • Superordinate goals lead both parties to work together for a common purpose • Shared group identity reduces conflict

18. Summary • 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

19. Summary • Strategies that regulate behavior help with some social dilemmas • Creating cooperation can reduce conflict • Communication is an important part of peacemaking, but only if it increases trust or positive feelings