The Psychology of Peace Promotion by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030149437
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Truth and Reconciliation

Exemplars Gandhi and Mandela promoted forgiving harm-doers even if they themselves may not have achieved the ideal of perfect forgiveness (Paloutzian et al., 2014). But the ideal of forgiving, especially those who killed your loved ones and erased large portions of your family from the earth, may be the most difficult thing that can be asked of a human being (Kalayjian & Paloutzian, 2010; McCullough, Bono, & Root, 2005; Paloutzian, 2010; Worthington et al., 2013). The evolutionarily rooted motivation to attack the attacker, which co-evolved with caring for the in-group member while holding the out-group member at a distance, is deep seated, visceral, and difficult to counter (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Mayes, 2000, 2006). Countering it would seem to be especially difficult if the perpetrator(s) do not admit that they did harm.1 Even so, some evolutionary factors appear to have fostered less human conflict under certain circumstances. For example, McCullough (2008) argued that along with self-protective fighting and defensive behavior, a forgiveness instinct also evolved. “Reconciliation” is probably the more accurate (behavioral) concept that is implied. Thus, reconciling following conflict ought to be less difficult when the truth about who did what is placed openly on the table and accepted by all—dialogue all parties can understand what both sides did and did not do (Green, 2010; Tint, 2010). This was at the heart of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Bronkhorst, 1995; Gibson, 2006; Tutu, 1999) constituted following the Apartheid era—a process and outcome that, although not perfect, is in many ways a model to the world. Notably, the name of the commission was Truth and Reconciliation, not Forgiveness and Reconciliation.

Long-term evolutionary processes are essential, but we greatly need near-term solutions. For this chapter, circumstances enabled us to explore a few questions that may be relevant to some near and long-term peace concerns. The issues involved how refugee acculturation tendency, trauma, time as a refugee, and attribution of blame are related to inclinations toward forgiveness, reconciliation, and revenge.

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