Psychological Aspects of Environmental Conflicts; 2: Theory & General Principles

1. Psychological Aspects of Environmental Conflicts;2: Theory & General Principles Herbert H. Blumberg Goldsmiths College, University of London h.blumberg@gold.ac.uk Conflict Research Society, University of Essex, September 2013

2. For fuller content and References, see 3rd and 4th slide from the end. • Much of THIS ppt file is devoted to • (a) some preliminary new data (means and dispersions will vary widely but unified factor and LACK of correlation with other demographic & personality domains would be sufficiently stable to provide the bases for general hypotheses as regards new broader data) • (b) Examples from psychol. Of conservation conflict resolution to illustrate use of general AGIL scheme.

3. Previous (2012) paper - and an in-press chapter based on it - filled an apparent gap in the literature: To review substantial diverse research on psychological aspects of conflict resolution related to conservation & environmental matters - A “birds-eye” serendipitous journey. Literature 2002-2012.

4. (Putting Descartes before Horace) • Present paper also concerns psychological aspects of environmental & conservation conflict. • Reverse of customary sequence: Some new data (on attitude “topography”) followed by a theoretical paradigm (4-category “AGIL” checklist based on Parsons).

5. Avariety of conflicts are at issue. Two classes in particular are Between or among interested parties, such as farmers and conservationists Parties with similar objectives who need to cooperate so as, e.g., not to over-use a commons. Or how to reduce carbon footprints (e.g. recent “conflict” between an environmentalist perspective and EU parliament had declined to fix carbon-trading scheme allowances – “better” vote took place in July)

6. Warning: This is a humourless paper … notwithstanding citing a paper on the value of humour in dealing with conservation conflicts – ask me about paper on gorillas and farmers (final slide)… 

7. First-year psychology undergrads (N = c.145) were asked about the importance of various issues facing Britain over the next ten years (rate from 1 to 7 high, form 2 reflected): Mean Std. Dev FA loading Climate change 4.97 1.93 .67 Conflict resolution 4.97 1.86 .78 drug use 4.41 1.85 .52 new technology 4.47 1.80 .44 poverty 5.59 1.82 .67 sustainable develop. 5.20 1.76 .79 (All six of these load strongly on the single factor of exploratory FA)

8. Correlation Matrix clim. con. drug new. pov sus. clim-ch 1.00 .44 .16 .18 .23 .47 con-res .44 1.00 .31 .22 .39 .50 drug-use .16 .31 1.00 .12 .34 .21 new-tec .18 .22 .12 1.00 .19 .23 pov .23 .39 .34 .19 1.00 .40 sus-dev .47 .50 .21 .23 .40 1.00 Sig. (1-tailed): r = 0.26 cutoff for uncorrected p < .01; .314 = .0005

9. Correlations negligible with a variety of other variables, which are internally consistent: Age. Sex. Own & parents’ social class. City/town size where grew up. Political preference (Labour, LibDem & Green show positive intercorr. but NIL with Conserv.) Personality: Big-five (tipi), SYMLOG, and F. Ext & Open linked with Symlog-UP. Agree & Emot.Stab &Consc, trend for link with Symlog-POS. Consc linked with Symlog-FWD (serious-conf.-task). - & trend for link with F (authoritarianism).

10. More data needed but one would expect correlations & factors to be more generalisable than means and SDs. Encouraging (I think) that at least strong concern is not much associated with other - potentially divisive - dimensions.

11. Rationale Bibliometrics  Zoom: Area & Discipline interface; Level (intrapersonal to planetary) Environmental topic Geographical Region (& Time) Mode (theory, practice, experimental, animal, etc.) Parsonian functional New attitude data Conclusions References

12. Bibliometrics: Frequency of Records Year Frequencya 3-yearc rated (1973) (02) (0.011) (1983) (09) (0.087%) (1993) (16) (0.109%) 2003 16 ‑‑ ‑‑ 2004 08 15.0 0.044% 2005 21 17.7 0.038% 2006 23 25.3 0.062% 2007 32 29.7 0.063% 2008 34 33.3 0.065% 2009 34 31.7 0.057% 2010 27 32.7 0.060% 2011 37 38.0 0.067% 2012 50b ‑‑ ‑‑ 

13. Frequency of Records (cont.) aNumber of PsycINFO records with environment* and conflict in record excl. dissertations (N = 2910) and clearly irrelevant records (c.90%) excluded. Sum = 274. bRecords added as of 24 August 2012: figure here doubled to approximate pro-rated portion of overall records added to date with words such as psychology and social. cThree-year rolling average centred on that year. dAs a proportion of all records having the word psychology (30-60K per year), a marker for size of the database; table shows 3-year rolling average for this percentage.

14. Scope: Whole of psychology or even of academia? Blumberg, Herbert H. (In press). Psychology and conflicts. In Stephen Redpath [s.redpath@abdn.ac.uk] & Juliette C. Young (Eds.). (In press).Conflicts in conservation: Integrating approaches for transformation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Main section includes chapters on ap- proaches from ecology, sociology, anthro-pology, psychology, political science, economics, arts, law and philosophy.

15. Forpsychological contributions to conflict resolution: [Subsequent to Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus (2006):] Coleman, Peter T.; & Deutsch, Morton (Eds.). (2012). The psychological components of a sustainable peace. New York & London: Springer. Effective cooperation. Culture of peace. Constructive conflict resolution. Reconciliation between groups. Creative problem solving. Dynamical systems perspective. Transforming communication. Fostering global citizenship. Life-improving peaceful language Framework to develop a use. global community. Role of equality in negotiation. Education for sustainable peace. Psychologically informed policies. Comprehensive parsimonious Gender and sustainable peace. model of sustainable peace. Psychodynamics of peace.

16. Other Specific Environmental Topics (psychol. & conflict: see References) Biodiversity Land use (& land conflict) Conservation per se Miscellaneous Corporate responsibility Nature and rural identity Disasters Public health Energy Resource conflicts Framing and pesticides Risk Forests Sustainability International organiza- Tourism tions (and NGOs) Transport

17. Remainder of Paper Describe Parsonian AGIL theory and review the four categories impressionistically, as regards both the foregoing findings and sample post-2000 publications. To resolve a conflict (as for many endeavours) attention must usually be given to all four areas. Also these provide a way of organising diverse research findings

18. Parsonian AGIL Theory: "AGIL Paradigm" (2012); Hare (1983). L (Latent pattern maintenance) or Values: e.g. Culture, Ethics I (Integrative, Interpersonal) matters also including roles and relationships. G (goal-attainment): motivation, goal direction, leadership & proceeding with task. A (adaptive) or Resources, both monetary and informational. Eclectic: e.g. systems approach; complexity and chaos; diversity and globalisation.

19. Proceeding in reverse order, L-I-G-A • L (Latent pattern maintenance) concerned with people's Values: Culture, Ethics, Miscellaneous. • People’s concerns for dealing with environmental conflict are, in general, situated within this L area – and seems to span across major demographic distinctions.

20. L (values): culture • Bercovitch, Jacob; Foulkes, Jon. (2012). Cross‑cultural effects in conflict management: Examining the nature and relationship between culture and international mediation. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 12, 25‑47.

21. The importance of culture in organizational behaviour has long been accepted, but political scientists still traditionally (in approaches to conflict) emphasize the supremacy of the state. ... Examines how culture affects the process and effectiveness of international mediation. Develops a theoretical framework to examine culture, its dimensions, and how these may impact on mediation. Using a large‑scale dataset of international mediation events, we find that cultural variation does indeed have a significant impact on mediation and conflict resolution. Greater attention should be paid to cross‑cultural factors in international conflict management.

22. L (values): ethics • Weston, Anthony. (2007). Creative problem‑solving in ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.

23. Offers uniquely constructive tools for engaging complex and controversial ethical problems. Covers such practical methods as diversifying options, lateral thinking, reframing problems, approaching conflicts as creative opportunities, and many others, it shows how to find "room to move" inside even the most challenging ethical problems, and thereby discover new and productive ways to deal with them. Numerous exercises and applications that consider a wide range of familiar ethical issues‑‑including the moral status of animals, the death penalty, poverty, drug use, and many others‑‑and ends with some of the toughest: abortion, assisted suicide, and environmental ethics.

24. I (Integrative, Interpersonal) matters also including roles and relationships, communication, and teamwork - esp. negotiation, cooperation e.g. on commons resources, interdependence. Existing data could be expanded to examine networking efforts of various interested parties; effects of different kinds of messages (e.g. latent norms to be consistent with overt ones).

25. I: communication • Chakraverti, Meenakshi. (2009). Deliberate dialogue. In J. de Rivera (ed.), Handbook on building cultures of peace (pp. 259‑272). New York: Springer Science.

26. Unlike negotiation & debate, deliberate dialogue simply attempts to build better communication, relationships, and understanding between persons or groups stuck in a repetitive conflict system. It may establish a foundation for negotiated agreements or constructive coexistence. Useful when people are "stuck" in overt and loud unproductive communication or in significant silences between groups. Also, in grave conflict or post‑conflict, showing sharp partisanship and mistrust. Also may be helpful where there is international involvement around social change. Requires significant interest within the groups that are being brought together. Chapter provides an overview of major theoretical foundations, common facilitative practices and some examples of how dialogue fosters cultures of peace.

27. I: interdependence • Van Lange, Paul A. M. (Ed) Rusbult, Caryl E. (2012). Interdependence theory. In P. A. M. Van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 251‑272). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

28. Interdependence theory = where outcomes depend on the choices made by each party. (PDGs are best known example). Addresses broad themes such as dependence and power, rules and norms, as well as coordination and cooperation. Kelley and Thibaut provided a means to analyse attribution and self‑presentation, trust and distrust, love and commitment, conflict and communication, and risk and self‑regulation. It identifies the most important characteristics of interpersonal situations, and describes the implications of structure for understanding intrapersonal and interpersonal processes. This chapter describes key principles of the theory, including e.g. a basis for understanding generosity, and the ebbs and flows of intergroup relations.

29. I: games • Kim, Julia M.; Hill, Randall W. Jr.; Durlach, Paula J.; Lane, H. Chad; Forbell, Eric; Core, Mark; Marsella, Stacy; Pynadath, David; & Hart, John. (2009). BiLAT: A game‑based environment for practicing negotiation in a cultural context. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 19, 289‑308.

30. Negotiation enables two parties to address misunderstandings and avoid conflicts through an exchange that depends as much on the interpersonal skills of the negotiators as the tactics employed. Describes the BiLAT game‑based simulation and tutoring system developed to provide students, with an environment to practice preparing for and conducting bilateral negotiations. Initial assessment of the training effectiveness of the system indicates significant situation‑judgment gains by novices.

31. I: games • Carpenter, Jeffrey Cardenas, Juan Camilo. (2011). An intercultural examination of cooperation in the commons. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 55, 632‑651.

32. We design a real‑time, intercultural common pool resource experiment using participants from cultures that derive different benefits from a global public good (extraction vs. conservation of biodiversity resources) to analyse the effect of group affiliation on cooperative behaviour. We also collect survey attitudes toward conservation to augment our experimental results. We find that when participants interact inter‑culturally, extraction choices change significantly and that these changes can be attributed to an amplification of the relationship between attitudes and choices cued by the intercultural treatment.

33. I: social dilemmas • Joireman, Jeff. (2005). Environmental Problems as Social Dilemmas: The Temporal Dimension. In A. Strathman & J. Joireman (ed.), Understanding behaviour in the context of time: Theory, research, and application (pp. 289‑304). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

34. Viewing pro‑environmental behaviour as a social dilemma suggests that when presented with a choice between more or less environmentally friendly behaviours, decision makers are faced with at least two basic underlying conflicts of interest: a social conflict (between individual and collective interests) and a temporal conflict (between immediate and delayed consequences of their actions). Understanding how decision makers resolve these conflicts of interest yields insights into the conditions under which people are willing to sacrifice for the environment. Reviews theory and research on social dilemmas related to pro‑environmental behaviour that has either directly or indirectly addressed these issues. • (AND SEE NEXT SLIDE)

35. Cf. Van Vugt, M., Meertens, R. M. & Van Lange, P. A. M. (1995). Car versus public transportation? The role of social value orientations in a real-life social dilemma. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 258-278.

36. G (goal-attainment) concerned with motivation, goal direction, leadership and simply proceeding with the task at hand. • (Again, data could be expanded to cover these and the next category, Resource matters.)

37. GL & GA (goal-attainment “sub-areas” dealing with values and resources): processing information & getting on with task • Bean, Martha; Fisher, Larry; & Eng, Mike. (2007). Assessment in environmental and public policy conflict resolution: Emerging theory, patterns of practice, and a conceptual framework. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 24, 447‑468.

38. Assessment as currently practiced is not formulaic or standardized, nor should it be. A comprehensive but flexible conceptual framework for assessment work is preferable, one that asks participants to examine and probe the appropriateness of various tools, techniques, and desired outcomes.

39. GL (goal-attainment): strategic nonviolence • Dhir, Krishna S. (2007). Stakeholder activism through nonviolence. Corporate Communications, 12(1), 75‑93.

40. Analyzes instances of nonviolent strategies adopted by a class of stakeholders‑‑the women of the Niger Delta region. Design/methodology/approach: appraises successes and failures in terms of a set of prerequisite conditions that must be met for such strategies to be effective. These prerequisite conditions must be present in the environment: the agent and the methodology of nonviolent action. The experience of the women of Niger Delta with nonviolent action indicates that it is possible to meet the prerequisite conditions for assurance of efficacy and for formulation of nonviolent strategies to conflict resolution. Nonviolent action offers a viable alternative for persuasion of the multinational oil corporations in the Niger Delta region.

41. G: participatory learning of goals • Eksvärd, Karin Rydberg, Torbjörn. (2010). Integrating Participatory Learning and Action Research and Systems Ecology: A potential for sustainable agriculture transitions. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 23, 467‑486.

42. This article explores the potential of integrating Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR) and Systems Ecology (SE) for improving research capability in facilitating sustainable development transitions in agriculture. Goal conflicts that arose in a PLAR group working on sustainability issues in small‑scale organic tomato production are analysed from the perspective of SE. The possibility to improve agency for sustainable development by the merger of PLAR and SE are discussed. It is concluded that the approaches together could provide a sounder base for systemic research and transitions in agriculture.

43. A (adaptive) concerned with Resources, both monetary and informational.

44. AG: knowledge for politics & practice • Böcher, Michael. (2008). The role of scientific knowledge in public policy in theory and in political practice ‑ The case of integrated rural development. In N. Stehr (ed.), Knowledge and democracy: A 21st century perspective (pp. 183‑198). Piscataway, NJ: Transaction.

45. Political actors depend on scientific or expert knowledge to obtain and evaluate various alternative solutions to political problems. Questions relating to the environment, particularly the use of natural resources, depend on scientific research. But will political actors actually use this scientific knowledge? Other factors, such as power struggles, conflicts and sticking to routines, are also influential. Transfer of scientific expertise into policy requires looking at requirements for successful transfer. In particular‑-as an example‑-for successful knowledge transfer in sustainable rural development policy: knowledge‑transfer is often considered to be a linear, technocratic process ("speaking truth to power"); but knowledge transfer also builds upon participation, credibility of expertise, and the legitimacy of the knowledge‑transfer process.

46. AG (resources): risk governance • Klinke, Andreas Renn, Ortwin. (2012). Adaptive and integrative governance on risk and uncertainty. Journal of Risk Research, 15, 273‑292.

47. Adaptive risk governance is supposed to address challenges raised by three characteristics that result from a lack of knowledge: complexity, scientific uncertainty, and socio‑political ambiguity. Politics and society can benefit from a risk governance model that augments the classical model of risk analysis (risk assessment, management, communication) by including steps of pre‑estimation, interdisciplinary risk estimation, risk characterization and evaluation, risk management as well as monitoring and control. This paradigm also incorporates expert, stakeholder and public involvement as a core feature in the stage of communication and deliberation ["A sub-I"]. A governance decision tree finally allows a systematic step‑by‑step procedure for the more inclusive risk‑handling process.

48. Eclectic: e.g. systems approach; complexity and chaos; diversity and globalisation.

49. Eclectic: multi‑disciplinary • Boehnke, Klaus Schmidtke, Henning Shani, Maor. (2011). Peace‑making: Socio‑psychological approaches. In D. Bar‑Tal (ed.), Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: A social psychological perspective (pp. 315‑333). New York: Psychology Press.

50. "Conflict management" is multidisciplinary‑-encompassing, e.g., international law, psychology, socio‑biology, political science, economics, and social anthropology. Work has focused on the source and nature of conflict as well as on third‑party interventions and their characteristics; but with few comprehensive state‑of‑the‑art reviews. One section here reviewed: two distinct approaches favouring positive peace. First, a top‑down notion of peacebuilding which refers to the creation of a political environment conducive to negotiations. This includes approaches such as "track‑two" diplomacy and training. Second, the grassroots societal process that ought to accompany the structural socio‑political facilitators of peacebuilding (reconciliation) and a discussion of "peace education", i.e. interventions aiming at eliminating negative socio‑psychological dynamics. Also, the quality of research‑-including two methodological issues, namely the problem of a selection bias of participants and the issue of rigorous evaluation‑-impacts on how research on socio‑psychological approaches to peace‑making can be advanced.