Cognitive Science and the Law
To identify the roles that individuals and groups beliefs play in initiating conflicts, the author steered a review to offer psychological examination to intergroup hostilities. At both group and individual levels, the author states that a deep-rooted form of interpretation governs behaviors and emotions. Core beliefs at their levels lead to distortions when perceptions become the way of life and thinking. Also, a discrepancy in data is ignored and then assimilated into a popular belief. Group beliefs are forms of interpretations that shared among people who have the same way of living and understanding of issues. These beliefs are very dangerous when members replace factual understand with their sense and hence hinder the good intentions of others. From this assessment, the author selected five views that can cause intergroup conflicts. They include; helplessness, distrust, vulnerability, injustice, and superiority.
One feels injustice when a form of mistreatment, and this can lead to an interpretation of unfortunate events unfairly. This kind of perception can lead to retaliatory attacks. Powerful resistance can be started by people who have the same grievances, mainly because the collective belief of injustices can increase an individual’s identification within a group. Leaders are very crucial in advocating that groups’ injustice actions that require a vicious change.
Individual superiority is a belief that one person more superior and worthy than the other. This kind of thinking leads people to ignore social norms as being irrelevant, lack empathy to others, and tendency to oppose those with different opinions and beliefs. In a group scenario, hate emergencies when members of a particular group feel that they are more deserving than the other. Additionally, an idea within a group that they are the chosen one makes the think and feel an entitlement to a few available resources.
An individual believes that he is vulnerable when he estimates his dangers as being high, and his ability to protect herself is nil. Such a mindset leads an individual to make false conclusions about their future. From a group perspective, such thinking can result in hostility against such threats.
A person was in a state of helplessness when he believed a well planned and executed action would not succeed, and this can lead to low motivation in a person. A group will collectively feel a form of powerlessness when they deem they lack competitive advantage against the group due to the unavailability of enough resources or few opportunities to progress.
Distrust at the individual level involves a tendency to judge someone’s behavior suspiciously, and this can interfere with a person’s ability to differentiate between genuine and hostile deeds. Groups distrust happens when the in-group interpretation of an out-group is deemed hostile even with the availability of clear explanations
Individual beliefs explicitly emanate from personal stories in a family setup and interpersonal relations, while group beliefs encompass shared narratives of cultural interpretation within in-group and out-group associations. Both individual and group believe create biasedness’ in judgment and distort understanding of the intended meaning. Such beliefs hinder how human beings and society as a whole view of the world.
Reference
Eidelson, R. J., & Eidelson, J. I. (2003). Dangerous ideas: Five beliefs that propel groups toward conflict. American Psychologist, 58(3), 182.