Peter Thomas Coleman (born September 9, 1959) is a social psychologist and researcher in the field of conflict resolution and sustainable peace. Coleman is best known for his work on intractable conflicts and applying complexity science.
Coleman is a professor at Columbia University and the executive director of the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4) [1] and the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution. [2] Coleman also serves on the faculty in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution masters program at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. [3] He also co-founded the Institute for Psychological Science and Practice.
Coleman grew up in the 1960s in Chicago and experienced school desegregation, a violent anti-war movement, and a non-violent civil rights movement first hand. These experiences instilled a strong sense of macro worry: concern over the state of our society and our world. He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1981. After working with violent youth in New York City in the 1980s, Coleman returned to academics to study how to use science as a tool to address social ills.
Eventually, Coleman trained as a mediator for the New York State Criminal Court system, and began his studies with the conflict resolution eminent theorist, Morton Deutsch, and a doctorate in social and organizational psychology from Columbia University.
Coleman has been a professor at Columbia University since the 1990s. [4] [5] His early work with Morton Deutsch led to the publication of the first of three editions of The Handbook on Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, a comprehensive book designed for professionals in the field of conflict resolution emphasizing the constructive potential of conflict [6] . Coleman has studied some of the more marginalized yet critical aspects of peace and conflict dynamics, including issues such as the use and abuse of social power, intractable conflict, humiliation and conflict, polarized collective identity formation, culture and conflict, injustice and conflict, and sustainable peace. These phenomena can manifest themselves in families, schools and other organizations, communities, and nations. They tend to be complex, long-lasting, and difficult to work with, and thus are relatively understudied by contemporary social scientists. Coleman's approach has been to develop conceptual models that address gaps in existing theory, often through eliciting insights from informed participants (local stakeholders and practitioners), and then to empirically test the models using a variety of methods. [7] His scholarship aims to bridge the theory-practice gap in the field of conflict resolution and peace studies by bringing new insights from research to bear on important technical and social problems, and by honoring practical expertise in the development of new theory. [8]
In the area of conflict intractability, Coleman's work focuses on the dynamics involved in seemingly unsolvable conflicts; both generally as whole systems as well as specifically through the investigation of key components of these problems. [9] This has included research on the underlying motivational processes involved, identity formation and change under these conditions, the role moral emotions play in sustaining such conflicts, and differences in the complexity of the dynamics between more and less destructive forms of conflict. This work culminated into the book, The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to (Seemingly) Impossible Conflicts.
Coleman provides educational instruction for leaders such as the Obama Scholars at Columbia [10] , the Leading Woman Executives program [11] , and the Executive Change Management Leadership program at Columbia [12] .
Coleman serves as a scientific advisor to dozens of nonprofit peace-building groups, including Starts with Us [13] , Fix US [14] , Constructive Dialogue Institute [15] , Search for Common Ground USA [16] , Listen First [17] , Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress [18] , Unite, Generations for Peace, One Small Step (Story Corps), Cascade Institute, Essential Partners, Civic Health Project, Horizons Project, Partners Global, Braver Angels [19] , UJA-Federation [20] , One Million Truths [21] , and American Exchange Project [22] . In 2020, Coleman was asked to advise the Joe Biden presidential transition team on depolarization in the U.S.
In 2015, he received the Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award from the American Psychological Association, Division 48: Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence. [23]
In 2000, he received the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution Book Prize for Excellence for The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice edited by Morton Deutsch & Peter T. Coleman. [24]
2003, Coleman was the recipient of the first Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association, Division 48: Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence. [25]
He is also Founding board member of the Gbowee Peace Foundation USA [26] and a founding member of the United Nations Mediation Support Unit Academic Advisory Council [27] at UNDPA. [28] Coleman currently serves on the editorial boards of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology and Conflict Resolution Quarterly. [29]
Robert Marshall Axelrod is an American political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan where he has been since 1974. He is best known for his interdisciplinary work on the evolution of cooperation. His current research interests include complexity theory, international security, and cyber security. His research includes innovative approaches to explaining conflict of interest, the emergence of norms, how game theory is used to study cooperation, and cross-disciplinary studies on evolutionary processes.
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest of group and by engaging in collective negotiation. Dimensions of resolution typically parallel the dimensions of conflict in the way the conflict is processed. Cognitive resolution is the way disputants understand and view the conflict, with beliefs, perspectives, understandings and attitudes. Emotional resolution is in the way disputants feel about a conflict, the emotional energy. Behavioral resolution is reflective of how the disputants act, their behavior. Ultimately a wide range of methods and procedures for addressing conflict exist, including negotiation, mediation, mediation-arbitration, diplomacy, and creative peacebuilding.
Peace and conflict studies or conflict analysis and resolution is a social science field that identifies and analyzes violent and nonviolent behaviors as well as the structural mechanisms attending conflicts, with a view towards understanding those processes which lead to a more desirable human condition. A variation on this, peace studies (irenology), is an interdisciplinary effort aiming at the prevention, de-escalation, and solution of conflicts by peaceful means, thereby seeking "victory" for all parties involved in the conflict.
Peace education is the process of acquiring values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors to live in harmony with oneself, others, and the natural environment.
Morton Deutsch was an American social psychologist and researcher in conflict resolution. Deutsch was one of the founding fathers of the field of conflict resolution. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Deutsch as the 63rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Conflict resolution is any reduction in the severity of a conflict. It may involve conflict management, in which the parties continue the conflict but adopt less extreme tactics; settlement, in which they reach agreement on enough issues that the conflict stops; or removal of the underlying causes of the conflict. The latter is sometimes called "resolution", in a narrower sense of the term that will not be used in this article. Settlements sometimes end a conflict for good, but when there are deeper issues – such as value clashes among people who must work together, distressed relationships, or mistreated members of one's ethnic group across a border – settlements are often temporary.
Evelin Gerda Lindner is a German-Norwegian medical doctor, psychologist, transdisciplinary scholar and author who is known for her theory of humiliation.
Delegitimisation is the withdrawal of legitimacy, usually from some institution such as a state, cultural practice, etc. which may have acquired it explicitly or implicitly, by statute or accepted practice. It is a sociopsychological process which undermines or marginalises an entity by presenting facts and/or value judgments that are construed to withdraw legitimacy and can in some cases be a self-justifying mechanism, with the ultimate goal of justifying harm of an outgroup.
Mohammed Abu-Nimer is an American expert on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace. He is a full professor at the American University School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington, DC, the largest school of international relations in the United States.
Douglas P. Fry is an American anthropologist. He has written extensively on aggression, conflict, and conflict resolution in his own books and in journals such as "Science" and "American Anthropologist." His work frequently engages the debate surrounding the origins of war, arguing against claims that war or lethal aggression is rooted in human evolution.
Daniel Bar-Tal is an Israeli academic, author and professor of social-political psychology from the Department of Education at Tel Aviv University. He is also the head of The Walter-Lebach institute for jewish-arab coexistence. His research deals with the study of conflicts and their resolution, especially in the Israeli-Arab context.
Positive interdependence is an element of cooperative and collaborative learning where members of a group who share common goals perceive that working together is individually and collectively beneficial, and success depends on the participation of all the members.
A conflict is a struggle and a clash of interests, opinions, or even principles. Conflict will always be found in society; as the basis of conflict may vary to be personal, racial, class, caste, political and international. Conflict may also be emotional, intellectual, and theoretical, in which case academic recognition may, or may not be, a significant motive. Intellectual conflict is a subclass of cultural conflict, a conflict that tends to grow over time due to different cultural values and beliefs.
David W. Johnson is a social psychologist whose research has focused on four overlapping areas: cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts; constructive controversy; conflict resolution and peer mediation and experiential learning to teach interpersonal and small group skills. Johnson has developed and applied psychological knowledge in effort to improve practices within educational systems. Johnson's books have been translated into 20 different languages and his work has been applied in many countries.
Moral exclusion is a psychological process where members of a group view their own group and its norms as superior to others, belittling, marginalizing, excluding, even dehumanizing targeted groups. A distinction should be drawn between active exclusion and omission. The former requires intent and is a form of injustice, known as moral exclusion; while the latter is thoughtlessness. The targeted group is viewed as undeserving of morally mandated rights and protections. When conflict between groups escalates, the in-group/out-group bias between the groups heightens. Severe violence between groups can be either the antecedent or the outcome of moral exclusion. At its extreme it is a bidirectional phenomenon that defies precise origin.
Guy Olivier Faure is a professor of International Negotiation. He is currently president of the Brussels Diplomatic School (ULB/CERIS).
Peace psychology is a subfield of psychology and peace research that deals with the psychological aspects of peace, conflict, violence, and war. Peace psychology can be characterized by four interconnected pillars: (1) research, (2) education, (3) practice, and (4) advocacy. The first pillar, research, is documented most extensively in this article.
Kevin Avruch is an American anthropologist and sociologist, Dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. He is the Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution and Professor of Anthropology. He received his PhD in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego in 1978, where he also received his MA in anthropology in 1973. He received his AB from the University of Chicago. Dr. Avruch joined the faculty at George Mason University in 1980 after teaching at the University of Illinois and the University of California, San Diego. He has also taught at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Malta, the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica as well as for the Program in Conflict Resolution at Sabancı University in Istanbul. In 2011 he was a Fulbright specialist at the Banaras Hindu University.
Christopher Mitchell is a British historian and is Professor Emeritus at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University
Med Jones is an American economist. He is the president of International Institute of Management, a U.S. based research organization. His work at the institute focuses on economic, investment, and business strategies.