
Peace and Conflict, Part 3 – Conflict Resolution
In the last of this series on peace and conflict, we are looking at the question, How can an intractable conflict be resolved or at least transformed into a benign conflict? The attempt here is to use dynamical systems theory or chaos theory to look at the question of intractable conflicts. As mentioned before, an important part of chaos theory is the notion of attractors. Imagine rolling a marble down the schoolyard until it lands in an indentation. The marble will roll around a bit and then finally come to a stop at the lowest point of the indentation. The indentation is an attractor for the marble.
Peace and Conflict, Part 2 – The Role of Religion
This is second post in a series on peace and conflict. Specifically, we are looking at an article entitled Rethinking intractable conflict: The perspective of dynamical systems by psychologists Vallacher, Coleman, Nowak and Bui-Wrzosinska. In the first post, we introduced the reasons for examining peace and conflict from a dynamical systems or chaos theory point of view, and examined the question of why intractable conflicts are so persistent despite the fact that they only seem to bring misery to all involved. Today, we follow the authors’ question about religion
Peace and Conflict, Part 1 – The Research
Over the next little while, I’d like to explore with you research on peace and conflict. In this part, I will base most of my observations on an article entitled Rethinking intractable conflict: The perspective of dynamical systems, by psychologists Vallacher, Coleman, Nowak and Bui-Wrzosinska, researchers from the US and from Poland.Intractable conflicts develop their own cognitive, affective, and social mechanisms. They are self-perpetuating processes of thinking, feeling and dealing with relationships that end up distorting the reasons why a conflict started in the first place.
Social Media and Mental Health
In a few days (July 10), the third Mental Health Camp will be held in Vancouver, Canada. Mental Health Camp is an (un)conference that addresses the intersection between mental health and social media (e.g. blogging, Facebook, Twitter). The organizers, Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega and myself, believe that social media can be used as a force for good to help with mental health issues. First and foremost, we have seen how social media can help decrease stigma. For example, there are many people who formerly were quiet about their mental illness. Through social media and its relative anonymity they can explore being more open about mental illness. This in turn makes it easier for others to speak out.
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