Springer The Social Developmental Construction of Violence and Intergroup Conflict

This book describes how the violent dimension of intergroup relations can be better understood if the interplay between psychological and social-developmental factors is taken into account. Ten unique, innovative and original chapters by international scholars of social and developmental psychology address the way how social reality is constructed as a hierarchical order, and how social norms, beliefs and cognitive-behavioral patterns are learned, shared and repeatedly processed on how to uphold or challenge this social order. The volume covers diverse issues such as the effects (or lack thereof) of power and violent video games on people’s thinking and behavior, the acquisition of social norms and attitudes during childhood, minorities’ identity management strategies, the role of mothers’ educational beliefs and the impact of ideologies. This volume is inspired by the oeuvre of Maria Benedicta Monteiro, emphasizing the psychogenetic and sociogenic diacronies that are too often neglected by the predominantly synchronic paradigm of social psychology.  It is therefore an indispensable reading for researchers and advanced students in social, community and developmental psychology, for scientifically interested practitioners working with families, school contexts or intergroup conflict, and for everyone interested in the expanding field of the social developmental approaches to attitudes and behaviour. From the Back Cover This book describes how the violent dimension of intergroup relations can be better understood if the interplay between psychological and social-developmental factors is taken into account. Ten unique, innovative and original chapters by international scholars of social and developmental psychology address the way how social reality is constructed as a hierarchical order, and how social norms, beliefs and cognitive-behavioral patterns are learned, shared and repeatedly processed on how to uphold or challenge this social order. The volume covers diverse issues such as the effects (or lack thereof) of power and violent video games on people’s thinking and behavior, the acquisition of social norms and attitudes during childhood, minorities’ identity management strategies, the role of mothers’ educational beliefs and the impact of ideologies. This volume is inspired by the oeuvre of Maria Benedicta Monteiro, emphasizing the psychogenetic and sociogenic diacronies that are too often neglected by the predominantly synchronic paradigm of social psychology.  It is therefore an indispensable reading for researchers and advanced students in social, community and developmental psychology, for scientifically interested practitioners working with families, school contexts or intergroup conflict, and for everyone interested in the expanding field of the social developmental approaches to attitudes and behaviour. About the Author JORGE VALA, PhD in Social Psychology, University of Louvain (1984), was a full professor at ISCTE, and is currently senior researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS)/University of Lisbon. At ICS, his research focuses on socio-cognitive processes in the field of social representations and ideologies, social norms and social identities. His present projects articulate these processes with the study of racism and prejudice, immigration issues, political attitudes, social justice, and validation of everyday knowledge. Jorge Vala was invited professor at several universities, including the University René Descartes-Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology, President of the Portuguese Association of Psychology, Editor of the Revista Psicologia. He was the Portuguese representative on the European Programme COST, as well as President of the Department of Social and Organizational Psycholog