Real-life Conflicts Research Articles

Bystander Action Beyond Intervention: Video-Observing the Bystander Behavior of Men and Women in Real-Life Public Conflicts.

Previous research suggests that bystanders of conflicts use a range of intervention strategies. Yet, much less is known about other actions-beyond intervention-that bystanders might engage in during conflicts. Further, while prior studies reveal that gender differences emerge in bystander behavior, few studies have assessed the ecological validity of such potential differences in bystander actions during real-life conflicts. Addressing this concern, we systematically observed the diverse bystander behaviors of individuals presenting as men and women in real-life public conflicts captured on CCTV. We observed 67 public conflicts in the inner city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Using a qualitative approach, we first identified the broad spectrum of actions that bystanders engaged in. We then ran linear probability models to examine the relationship between bystander's gender presentation and bystanders' engagement in seven bystander actions (N = 1,959), followed by a multimodel analysis to test the robustness of these findings. Results indicate that bystanders engaged in a diversity of actions, ranging from inattentive (i.e., glancing while moving) and reactive actions (e.g., laughing) to physical forms of intervention. Unexpectedly, women were not more likely to engage in affiliative forms of intervention (e.g., calming hand gestures, non-forceful touching, and practical help). In addition to physical intervention, men were more likely to react to conflicts by laughing, filming, or cheering. The only type of action that was more typical among women than men was inattention (i.e., glancing while moving). Our results show that bystander behavior in public space is carried out in gendered ways, albeit in a less clear-cut manner than expected.

Therapeutic and developmental benefits of fairy tales in early childhood: A mini-review

The role of fairy tales in preschool-aged children's emotional and cognitive development is discussed. Separating good from evil makes it easier for children to cope with conflicting emotions. This encourages creative thinking and personality growth as representations of conscious and unconscious motifs in stories guide children through their thoughts. Fairy tales even provide secure, comforting, and supporting feelings though they relate to conflicts or endangerment themes, fostering positive self-image and emotional intelligence in kids. It was found that a happy ending to a fairy tale lessens tension, alleviates anxiety arising from developmental fears, and meets the need for justice among kids. Representation of negative characters in these stories contributes positively to emotional development. In Australia, research has shown that talking about fairy tales helps a child meet emotional needs, especially when told in groups with accompanying acting out. In addition, the article examines how therapeutic fairy tales can decrease fearfulness while dealing with actual life problems throughout this period. Moreover, the paper explores how fairy tales might be used as therapy to address anxiety as well as real-life conflicts during emotional development. Essential for appreciating children’s fantasies that can lead to internal conflicts because of their inability to express themselves in any other manner, it is pertinent for parents and their kids to have storytelling sessions where they can talk about anything. Lastly, fairy tales are sources of inspiration; they teach morals and values; tools necessary for mental growth, cognitive advancement, moral maturity, and creativity, making people think critically and interrogatively.

Conflict Under Incapacitation and Revenge: A Game-Theoretic Exploration

Abstract In real life, winning a conflict sometimes does not end the conflict. Revenge motivations can stay and provide momentum to the conflict, thus leading to further escalation of the conflict. This is known as the value effect or vengeance effect of revenge. However, the presence of revenge can lead to de-escalation of the conflict out of self-deterrence and sometimes retaliation out of revenge is not possible if the combatant is incapacitated. Hence, the impact of revenge on the level of violence is a priori not clear. This paper is an attempt to answer that question. Using a two-period game of conflict this paper tries to show how desire and capabilities of the combatants to exact revenge can influence the intensity of the conflict. This paper shows the following: how the strategies of the combatants are influenced by the value effect of revenge, self-deterrence and incapacitation of the combatants; how the stronger combatant is in a favourable position in the conflict and can prevent its opponent from going into second period conflict out of revenge; when the combatants are equally strong the intensity of the conflict starts falling with time. It also lays out some real-life conflicts and existing empirical work to support the results.

Minimax regret stability in the graph model for conflict resolution

In strategic conflicts, decision-makers (DMs) do not constantly make their best decisions, which makes room for DMs to feel regretful. In this context, this work proposes the Minimax Regret Stability within the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) for modelling and analysing conflicts, considering that DMs would feel regret for an unsatisfactory decision. This concept does not require knowledge about the opponent’s preference in bilateral conflicts. The aim of the new solution concept is to recommend a state as stable if there exists a policy recommending to stay at that state which minimizes the maximum regret of the DM for a given conflict horizon, where a policy specifies what action a DM must choose in every conflict state. In addition, we investigate the relations among the Minimax regret stability and other classical GMCR solution concepts. Following, the influence of the horizon on the stability of states is also studied. Finally, a truckers’ strike conflict was used to illustrate how the new solution concept can provide valuable strategic insights in real-life conflict situations.

An ethogram method for the analysis of human distress-related behaviours in the aftermath of public conflicts

Abstract Research on other than human animals has widely documented the behavioural expression of distress in a conflict context. In humans, however, this remains largely unknown due to the lack of direct access to real-life conflict events. Here, we took the aftermath of 76 video recorded street conflicts and applied the ethological method to explore the distress-related behavioural cues of previous antagonists. Drawing on observations on nonhuman behaviour and inductively identified behaviours, we developed and inter-coder reliability tested an ethogram for the behavioural repertoire of distress. We further quantitively analysed the behaviours with a correlation matrix and PCA, that revealed that the behaviours we observed were not displayed in combination with each other, showing a variability in how people express distress. Since both human and nonhuman primates react to conflict situations with similar expressions of distress, we suggest a comparative approach to understand the evolutionary roots of human behaviour.

Information asymmetry in the graph model of conflict resolution and its application to the sustainable water resource utilization conflict in Niangziguan Springs Basin

With the increasing consumption of global water resources, research on sustainable water resource utilization has become a topic of urgent interest. Despite the promulgation of policies and laws on the protection of water resources, the sustainable utilization and development of water resources in China are still far from reaching their initially established targets. This is partly explained by real-life conflicts that arise, in which different decision makers (DMs) possess different levels of professional knowledge, social status, and even power in contexts where the parties’ ability to leverage information varies greatly. Sustainable water resource utilization conflicts between the government and factories exemplify the impact of this information asymmetry on the relationship between DMs for the purposes of conflict resolution. In this paper, it is assumed that if one DM in a conflict has more information, their information advantage will affect the policy formation of the other DM. Thus, to analyze and resolve relevant problems, the concept of information asymmetry between two DMs is integrated into the basic structure of the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR). According to the mathematical expression of the information asymmetry preferences of DMs, a set of information asymmetry stability definitions can be introduced to determine the stable state for each DM. The sustainable water resource utilization conflict in Niangziguan Springs Basin is used as an exemplar to confirm the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed method. Stability analysis shows that when the government implements strict environmental policies by leveraging more information, factories should adjust their preference relations to follow the rules and regulations to protect water resource in practice. Finally, comprehensive sustainable utilization and development of natural resource mechanisms must be implemented not only for these factories but also for other industries in China.

Matrix representations of the inverse problem in the graph model for conflict resolution with fuzzy preference

The inverse analysis of the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) determines all the preference relationships required by each decision-maker (DM) according to a given stability definition to ensure that the given state is stable. In the paper, a matrix representation approach for the inverse graph model with fuzzy preference relations is proposed to obtain all the preference relations for each DM making the stability result based on the fuzzy stability definition, including fuzzy Nash, fuzzy general metarationality, fuzzy symmetric metarationality, and fuzzy sequential stability definition. For the two-DM graph model, the fuzzy preference relation over states, unilateral movements, and fuzzy unilateral improvements are refreshed by using the matrix forms. Furthermore, for the multiple DMs model, the joint movements and joint improvement for a collection including at least two DM are represented by using matrix representation. Finally, the matrix relationship for specifying the required preference relation in the framework of inverse graph model with fuzzy preferences is derived. To illustrate the usefulness of the matrix representation of inverse graph model with fuzzy preference relations, this paper demonstrates it using a real-life conflict of the Elmira groundwater contamination conflict.

Tragedy, Tragic Irony, and War: A Dialectical Approach

Tragic irony may mean the dramatic irony in scripted tragedy (tragic play). The audience can predict the regrettable outcome on the stage before the main characters do. I focus on non-scripted events and their tragic aspects. Colloquially, disaster and tragedy are synonyms, but this is misleading. Tragedy means a disaster in special circumstances, which I suggest we can read ironically. This is to say, as I argue, tragedy is necessarily ironic. I read Richard Rorty on irony and Hegel on tragic irony and cunning of reason. My aim is to redescribe real-life conflicts by using the dialectical understanding of irony and tragedy. Following Rorty and Hegel, I apply their theories of identity to real tragedies. The validation of the theory of literary criticism is a practical matter. My key illustrations come from modern wars; wars are and cause disasters, and thus I expect we can discover cases of tragic irony in factual and counterfactual contexts. Sometimes, the losses and suffering would have been meaningless regardless of the war’s outcome. The winner suffers, but it would have been better not to win. The losers suffer, but it would not have been better had they won. A total defeat would have been better than a conditional one. These redescriptions show the ironic differences between disaster and tragedy in non-scripted contexts—and all these cases are controversial.

New constellations of mnemonic wars: An introduction

This special issue titled Mnemonic Wars: New Constellations has two objectives. First, it maps some of the current memory conflicts in different parts of the world, focusing on their topics and novel political, cultural and social constellations. Second, the issue problematizes how the different currents of revitalized national politics and globalization processes influence and sometimes even trigger memory wars. Who are the contemporary memory agents fostering confrontational memory politics? What tools, media and practices do they use to promote their interpretations of the past? How are these memory wars being played out internationally? In what ways do global developments, such as the spread of social media, the emergence of transnational memory politics or the establishment of transnational networks of memory activists, influence today’s memory conflicts? Finally, how do these discursive struggles translate into real-life conflicts? In their introductory article, the guest editors discern between the older and more recent approaches to research on memory conflicts and set the conceptual agenda for the entire issue.

Critical Examination of Game Theory as Applied to Conflict and Negotiation

MANY scholars and politicians have sug gested negotiation as a solution for South Africa's problems. Although the subject of negotiation has been eclectic in the absorp tion of Insights from other disciplines, it is only fairly recently that communicologists have become interested in the topic. Today there are various theoretical approaches underlying the study of negotiation. The Theory of Games (or Game Theory) is one of the earlier approaches -one however which is still popular in some quarters. This article overviews the literature on Game Theory as applied to conflict and negotiation, and the writer concludes that though useful initially, it is no longer suitable for the study of real-life conflict and negotia tion situations. The communicologist will have to find a less behaviouristic approach if he hopes to understand (and apply) the com plexities of negotiation. Only then can we begin to talk of solutions

Leading for School Change in a Divided Community

This case study examines the intersection of rural education, new leadership, and supervising teachers when a power imbalance exists. Using a real-life example of supervision and professional interactions, this case study focuses future administrators on the real-life conflicts inherent in supervision and employee rights. The case study examines the inherent power dynamics in some rural school systems, where changing demographics have resulted in the dissonance between what the Board of Education, the superintendent, and a newly appointed principal see as an educational environment for cultural responsiveness which acknowledges changes in the community and the pre-existing, established norms. The interactions between the principal, a veteran teacher, and a classroom environment during contentious discussions among students in a civics education class debate launched faculty discontent towards the new administration. The debate occurs during an already contentious moment during the stalled teacher's collective bargaining agreement.

Conflict with Third-Party Intervention and Revenge: A Game-Theoretic Exploration

ABSTRACT Most real-world conflicts are characterised by the presence of third-party interventions as well as prolonged and revengeful violent interactions between the conflicting parties. However, most of the conflict literature studies the impact of each of these forces – third-party intervention and revenge motivations – on the conflict, in isolation from each other. This paper attempts to fill in this gap and aims to explore the impact of these two forces acting in conjunction with each other on a conflict situation. In fact, we also endogenise the intervention decision of the third party and explore parametric restrictions under which a third party decides to intervene (either as an ally of one of the conflicting parties or as an ‘idealist’ aiming to reduce overall conflict levels) and its repercussions on associated conflict levels. We also present narrative evidences of some real-life conflicts that amply exhibit the two forces of third-party intervention and revenge. Peace is the only battle worth waging. – Albert Camus

How to stop a fight—A qualitative video analysis of how third-parties de-escalate real-life interpersonal conflicts in public.

How to stop a fight—A qualitative video analysis of how third-parties de-escalate real-life interpersonal conflicts in public.

Does Third-Party Intervention Matter? A Video-Based Analysis of the Effect of Third-Party Intervention on the Continuation of Interpersonal Conflict Behaviour

Abstract The article investigates whether third-party intervention influences the continuation of antagonist conflict behaviour in interpersonal conflicts. The analysis is based on a systematic coding of video footage of real-life conflicts from the streets of Amsterdam. A panel data analysis shows that intervention leads to discontinuation of conflict behaviour. The analysis furthermore finds that while physically forceful intervention stops conflict behaviour, expressions of disapproval have no noticeable effect. The social relationship between third parties and antagonists does not appear to matter for this effect. Third parties thus play an integral part in the development of interpersonal conflicts, but this influence depends on how they intervene. Future preventive efforts should emphasize that intervention works but must be performed in certain ways to be effective.

Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s The Children Act

Ian McEwan’s The Children Act focuses on a real-life conflict between religion and children’s rights in a pluralist society. By drawing on Charles Taylor’s work on religion in the “secular age”, I argue that McEwan’s narrative is ultimately built on secularist assumptions that devalue religious experience. McEwan’s approach aims to build a bridge between literary imagination and scientific rationality: religion is, from this perspective, reducible to a “fable” and an authority structure incongruous with legal rationality and the quest for meaning in the modern-secular society. In The Children Act, art substitutes religion and its aspiration to transcendence: music in particular is a universal idiom that can overcome barriers of communication and provides “ecstatic” experiences in a godless world.

Жанровое разнообразие и особенности композиционного построения узбекских короткометражных фильмов

Основной целью работы было изучение короткометражных фильмов. Несмотря на то, что это направление кино становиться все более популярным, до сих не хватает исследовательских работ, касающихся этой области. Раньше короткие метры, рассматривались лишь с точки зрения композиционного построения и жанра. Методы, как часть статьи, включают в себя мысли о композиционном формировании короткометражных фильмов. В этой работе приводятся теоретические взгляды греческого энциклопедиста Аристотеля о структуре произведения и о том, что рассматривается современными специалистами. Также в статье анализируются короткометражные фильмы молодых режиссеров с точки зрения жанра и композиционного построения. Анализируются такие узбекские короткометражки, как «Мама» (режиссёры Абдуазим Ильхомджонов и Ботир Абдурахмонов, 2017 г.), «Жертвы свободы» (режиссёры Санджар Султонов и Хасан Алиджанов, 2015 г.) и «Белое облако» (режиссёр Хабибулло Лутфуллаев, 2015 г.). В данной работе каждая вышеперечисленная короткометражка подвергается подробному анализу. Обобщённо короткометражку «Мама» можно отнести к жанру драма, которая характеризуюется демонстрацией реально существующих конфликтов и их правдоподобным разрешением. Короткометражка «Жертва свободы» относится к жанру исторической трагедии. Фильм рассказывает о трагических событиях, постигших местную интеллигенцию, стремящуюся пробудить ум людей. Речь идет о человеке, который нашел силы, чтобы бороться за независимость узбекского народа, и подвергался жестоким мучениям во времена репрессий. Короткометражка «Белое облако» посвящена молодой любви и решена в жанре мелодрамы. Дискуссия показала, что короткометражки последних лет, снимавшиеся в разных жанрах, в большинство отталкиваются от жанры драмы. Автор статьи приходит к выводу, что молодые кинематографисты предпочитают именно этот жанр. Ключевые слова: короткометражный фильм, композиция, кульминация, режиссёр, жанр, драма, мелодрама, трагедия.

Focus on Opportunities or Limitations? Their Effects on Older Workers' Conflict Management.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) stresses that future time perspective (FTP) affects one’s goals and behaviors. In the work context, older workers’ occupational future time perspective (OFTP) also impacts their work-related behaviors. Two studies investigate whether the two components of OFTP, namely, focus on opportunities and on limitations, could account for the age differences in the use of conflict strategies at work. Study 1 comprises 416 Hong Kong Chinese workers aged between 20 and 68 years who completed an online questionnaire measuring their OFTP and habitual use of five conflict management strategies (integrating, compromising, obliging, avoiding, and dominating). In Study 2, 268 managerial employees and professionals were asked to recall a real-life workplace conflict that happened in the past six months and their use of the five conflict strategies in this incident. The results of Study 1 showed a negative indirect effect of age on all five conflict strategies through focus on opportunities, whereas a positive indirect effect of age was observed on obliging, avoiding and dominating strategies through focus on limitations. These age-related patterns are largely replicated in Study 2. These findings suggest that aging workers’ increased perception of limitations make them utilize less constructive strategies when facing conflict at work.

An Analysis Conflict in “The lady in the looking glass” By Virginia Woolf

This research analyzes the conflict that happened on the character in "The lady in the looking glass” this short story by Virginia Woolf was published in 1929. The conflict that happened is Internal and external conflict. This research aims to analyze the conflict in Mrs. Isabella. In real-life conflict always happened, The theory based on Muller and John A William (1982:44) where there is divided conflict into two kinds, first is internal conflict dan second is an external conflict. This paper tries to make a study from a new perspective and new interpreting this modern short story with the theory of the conflict in the short story. This study aims to know the conflict that happens on Mrs. Isabella as the main character in the short story “The lady in the looking glass”. This study analyzes the sentence and quotation in a short story. The goal of this study is the researcher applied theory about the conflict to Mrs. Isabella has a conflict in the form like mental, physical, and moral.by the character.

Predicting Real-Life Self-Control From Brain Activity Encoding the Value of Anticipated Future Outcomes

Deficient self-control leads to shortsighted decisions and incurs severe personal and societal costs. Although neuroimaging has advanced our understanding of neural mechanisms underlying self-control, the ecological validity of laboratory tasks used to assess self-control remains largely unknown. To increase ecological validity and to test a specific hypothesis about the mechanisms underlying real-life self-control, we combined functional MRI during value-based decision-making with smartphone-based assessment of real-life self-control in a large community sample (N = 194). Results showed that an increased propensity to make shortsighted decisions and commit self-control failures, both in the laboratory task as well as during real-life conflicts, was associated with a reduced modulation of neural value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in response to anticipated long-term consequences. These results constitute the first evidence that neural mechanisms mediating anticipations of future consequences not only account for self-control in laboratory tasks but also predict real-life self-control, thereby bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-life behavior.

When and Why Do Third Parties Punish Outside of the Lab? A Cross-Cultural Recall Study

Punishment can reform uncooperative behavior and hence could have contributed to humans’ ability to live in large-scale societies. Punishment by unaffected third parties has received extensive scientific scrutiny because third parties punish transgressors in laboratory experiments on behalf of strangers that they will never interact with again. Often overlooked in this research are interactions involving people who are not strangers, which constitute many interactions beyond the laboratory. Across three samples in two countries (United States and Japan; N = 1,294), we found that third parties’ anger at transgressors, and their intervention and punishment on behalf of victims, varied in real-life conflicts as a function of how much third parties valued the welfare of the disputants. Punishment was rare (1–2%) when third parties did not value the welfare of the victim, suggesting that previous economic game results have overestimated third parties’ willingness to punish transgressors on behalf of strangers.