Pages

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Peace psychologists

I hope a President Obama won't be basing his negotiation strategy with Ahmadinejad on this kind of thing:

For the sake of argument, imagine a world without conflict. That's the full-time job for members of a relatively new field called peace psychology who focus on problems like the genocide in Darfur, hatred in the Middle East, gang warfare in our cities, and rape everywhere.

Wondering what lessons they've learned in the trenches that we could use in our daily lives, "O" asked five top peace psychologists for their best advice on waging harmony.

•"We often figure that other people see the world in the same way we do and overestimate the degree to which they understand our approach and actions. Rather than making assumptions, ask for clarification; even ask about their intention to harm you ('Did you realize when you did that, it affected me in this way?' They might not be aware of it).

It goes on this way.