Connecting social psychology concepts with the pursuit of world peace.

Reviews the book, Social Psychology and World Peace: A Primer edited by Halford H. Fairchild and Heather Feigá Fairchild (2018). According to the reviewer, this book is an excellent introduction to the relationship between social psychology and issues pertaining to the pursuit of world peace. In an effort to challenge his undergraduate students at Pitzer College to be producers of knowledge—rather than passive consumers of knowledge—Halford Fairchild tasked his students with writing essays about social psychology topics as they relate broadly to issues of peace, violence, interpersonal conflict, and war. The essays they produced, along with chapters by other contributors, resulted in the first 12 parts of this 13-part book. The 13th part is a compilation of chapters from former students and colleagues and includes two speeches by former President, Barack Obama. The final part provides papers focused on biographies of peace scholar-activists and themes related to ideas presented earlier in the text. The first 12 parts of the book introduce fundamental social psychology concepts—such as confirmation bias, association learning, cognitive dissonance, attribution theory, conformity, discrimination, group dynamics, cooperation, and competition and much more—and apply them directly to the pursuit of world peace. It is not the intention of this book to offer solutions to every problem that impedes achieving world peace; rather, this primer, written by students for students, ...
Source: Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research