Distinguishing between Positive and Negative Approaches to Peace

The distinction between positive and negative goals is important in the psychology of peace because it affects the way people respond to the threat of nuclear war. An orientation toward the negative goal of avoiding war has been a priority because of the great danger of the nuclear threat and also because negative means and goals, being primarily reactive, more concrete, and more oriented to short-term objectives than positive goals, are more conducive to action. However, there are unfortunate consequences of too exclusive a concentration on avoiding war: inadequate conceptualization of a positive, more easily maintained goal of peace, and increased anxiety resulting in poor-quality thinking about ways to achieve peace. Choosing positive means of working toward peace is consonant with peace as a positive goal, and it compensates for some of the disadvantages of an exclusive focus on avoiding a nuclear confrontation.     

从战争文化走向和平文化

随着和平文化运动的开展,铲除战争和暴力文化、建设和平文化已成为和平文化运动的两个基本目标。悄然兴起的和平文化研究,以联合国大会宣布的“２０００ 年——国际和平文化年”为标志,正在进入新的历史阶段。它的发展不仅对未来的和平文化建设实践具有指导意义,而且对人文社会科学和其他科学领域将产生不可低估的影响     

Approach and Positive Affect in Toddlerhood Predict Early Childhood Behavior Problems

The aim of the study was to examine the moderating role of positive affect on the relation between approach behaviors and adjustment outcomes. One hundred eleven toddlers participated in a laboratory assessment of approach and positive affect at 24 months. Behavior problems were reported by a parent in the fall of the child's kindergarten year. Results supported our hypotheses that children who displayed high approach and high positive affect in both non‐threat and low‐threat contexts were rated as higher in externalizing behavior problems. On the other hand, for children showing low positive affect, increases in approach in a moderate‐threat context lowered the risk of developing internalizing behavior problems. Implications for these findings are discussed, including methodological considerations of differences among eliciting contexts and advantages of separating positive affect and approach.     

Peace building: a conceptual framework

An interdisciplinary legal and social work framework for peace building is presented. Inequality and its eradication are identified as linking factors transforming conflict into coexistence. Peace building is determined to entail participation in the struggle for social justice. Three conditions are identified as central to the peace building process. The first necessitates the establishment of inclusive, autonomous communities, each free to express religious, cultural and national aspirations and identity. The second requires the recognition of the legitimacy of each community to assert rights and claims without denying those of the other . This premise supports the view of the individual in relation and notes that coexistence can only be advanced through the building of mutual relationships. Finally, peace building requires recognition of human rights as a tool to promote relationships both within and between societies.     

The Role of Rhetoric in a Dialogical Approach to Thinking

The central idea of the paper is that human thinking consists in a movement through which a person socially interacts with herself. Consequently, thinking does not offer the experience of a private refuge in the intimacy of the individual thinker's self‐knowing, but a field where multiple points of view interact by contesting, distancing, approaching, agreeing or disagreeing, one to another. Classical ( Isocrates, 1929 /1968) and contemporary (Billig, 1987) rhetorical approaches to thinking stress that both “inner” and “social” discourse are addressed to someone else, are determined by the anticipation of this audience, and both are interested in persuading it. In doing so, the discursive, rhetoric, and dialogic aspects of thinking become tied to argumentation. The paper tries to show, following the dialogical notion of discourse of Bakhtin (1986) and Volo?inov (1929/1986) that, since every act of thinking consists in the raising of a point of view addressing another one and oriented by a particular interest, every stream of thought involves a rhetorical activity. A distinction between rhetoric and argumentation is proposed. On this basis, the rhetorical nature of thinking is discussed beyond argumentative discourse. Overall, this discussion contributes to a rhetorical approach to dialogism.     

Image and Action in Peace Building

That images of the future motivate behavior in the present is a theory with both socio-historical and psychological evidence. Due to the difficulty of generating positive images of the future in the nuclear age, in contrast to the Utopian imagery of earlier ages, an experimental workshop was developed by Boulding and Ziegler to help people imagine positive futures—specifically, to image a future world without weapons. The workshop procedures are described, and three case examples are given of imaging groups with widely different background characteristics. Participants were able to create positive imagery in the workshop setting, and their imagery varied according to the background of the participating group. The paper explores the relationships among the intensity of the imaging experience, its saliency for the imager, and the action readiness of the imager; and it raises questions about the role of imaging workshops in the peace movement and the kinds of research that might make such workshops more effective.     

The History and Specifics of Contemporary Islamic Revival in the Chechen Republic

Islamic revival is reviewed for the war-scarred Chechen Republic, including its historical and post-Soviet contexts. Chechnya's Muslim community is shown to be various, with followers of a customary Islam based on Sunni practice (Shafi'i doctrine) and Sufism vying with followers of more recent, fundamentals-oriented “Wahhabism” or Salafi Islam imported from abroad. Some consider themselves to be believers but do not strictly observe religious rituals, and some ignore them. Data is based on survey research from 2003, augmented by the author's discussion of Chechen wirds, brotherhoods sometimes associated with Muridism, and teips, loosely defined kin-groups broader than a clan, as well as Chechen pilgrimage practices.     

开朗、正面、积极如何可能——从《圣经》的视角

“开朗、正面、积极”是思想品德教育中经常听到的说教,以致我们的耳朵对这几个词几乎长起了抵挡的老茧!久而久之,我们对这些词麻木,并且在面对人生的许多不如意和社会许多不公义时,我们怀疑开朗、正面、积极怎么可能？!但是,且慢!《圣经》所启示的敬虔信仰给开朗、正面、积极做了非同一般的全新诠释,使我们看到开朗、正面、积极是可能的,而且是上苍的恩典!     

和平发展潮流下警惕战争危险

正当我们回顾冷战结束之初的国际安全状况时,我们会发现,自那时以来,国际安全状况在持续恶化。冷战刚结束时,随着苏联的解体和经济濒临崩溃,冷战时期美国在国际上最强大的对手消失了,美国得以享受一超独霸的地位,没有什么看得见的对手了。那时,国际社会关注和争议最多的问题是,西方国家是否有责任干预第三世界国家中频繁出现的人道主义危机,例如在索马里和卢旺达,以及更受争议的波黑。虽然北约东扩在俄罗斯和欧美国家之间不断引起猜疑和龃     

政治化自然:生态女性主义的批判路径

生态女性主义是结合生态主义与女性主义的理论诉求,其自然观批判二元论统治结构中自然化政治的本质主义悖谬,一方面深化深生态对人类中心主义的批判,指出人对自然的统治源自人类社会的统治关系,一方面重构人与自然、政治与自然的辩证关系,在包容差异的基础上提出对差异他者的关怀、理解与责任。     

Using a Unitary Approach in Student Placements

Summary This paper is an attempt to think through the use of a unitaryapproach in the supervision of students, in particular withinstudent units. It considers separately the beginning phase ofany placement, first and second placements and develops theconcept of a team model by which to run the unit.     

Transitions in Caregiving: Evaluating a Person-Centered Approach to Supporting Family Caregivers in the Community

Caregivers of older adults provide a wide range of informal supports and services that enable older adults to continue living in the community. This study describes the use of a multicomponent intervention combined with a person-centered approach to assist caregivers of older adults in the community. Four hundred and eighteen caregiver and care recipient dyads participated in this study and their outcomes related to burden, depression, well-being, and care recipient functional status were evaluated. The findings suggest that adult child and spousal caregivers experience burden differently. Programs designed to support caregivers must tailor services to the unique needs of adult child and spousal caregivers.     

An Ecological Approach to Semiotics

This paper proposes an ecological approach to the perception and interpretation of signs. The theory draws upon the ecological approach of James Gibson (1966; 1979). It is proposed that cultural and natural perception can both be explained in terms of the direct pick-up of structured information and the Gibsonian concept of affordances (Gibson, 1979) without having to invoke a sharp distinction between direct and indirect perception. The application of the theory is exemplified through attention to language and to the visual and audio arts.     

An Approach to Fieldwork Assessment

Summary Criticism has recently been made of the assessment of practicein social work education. Whilst acknowledging that some ofthis may be well deserved, the writers of this article describean attempt by staff at Leicester University's School of SocialWork to make the assessment of fieldwork practice more rigorous.     

A Strategic Approach to Aggression

Two issues raised by Underwood, Galen and Paquette (2001) are discussed in more detail. The distinction between indirect and relational forms of aggression is explored: although they coincide in many current studies, they involve potentially separate dimensions, so that social manipulation may occur face-to-face, and indirect aggression may not involve manipulating others. These forms of aggression are at the margins of the usual definitions of aggression, and may be better viewed as social strategies. The normative view of aggression inherent in the social information processing model is questioned from an evolutionary perspective, and in the light of research on bullying, which indicates that aggressive individuals may be socially skilled. This perspective coincides with the strategic approach arising from consideration of relational aggression.