Our Brains at War : The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding

Our Brains at War: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding suggests that we need radical change in how we think about war, leadership, and politics. Most of us, including most political scientists, fail to appreciate that the main factors in today’s identity wars and politics arise not from logic but from instincts and emotions, against which reason often has little sway. Many of our physiological and genetic tendencies, of which we are mostly unaware, can easily fuel our antipathy toward other groups, make us choose supposedly “strong” leaders over more mindful leaders, facilitate the recruitment of fighters for both legal and illegal militia groups, and enable even the most seemingly gentle of us to inflict horrific violence on others. Unfortunately, in today’s world, such instincts and emotions also increase our susceptibility to being easily led toward hateful activities by social media. Without understanding the genetic, neural, and hormonal tendencies that facilitate such predispositions, it will be extremely difficult to achieve sustainably peaceful societies. Drawing on the latest research from newer sciences such as social biopsychology, behavioral genetics, political psychology, and social and cognitive neuroscience, this book identifies the sources and the consequences of such instincts and emotions. It also suggests that we need new and radical ways of dealing with societal and global conflicts by openly addressing the biological factors that help create them and by taking them into account in our plans for more constructive politics and more effective peacebuilding in our increasingly fracturing world. Our Brains at War: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding suggests that we need a radical change in how we think about war, leadership, and politics. Most of us, political scientists included, fail to appreciate the extent to which instincts and emotions, rather than logic, factor into our societal politics and international wars. Many of our physiological and genetic tendencies, of which we are mostly unaware, can all too easily fuel our antipathy towards other groups, make us choose 'strong' leaders over more mindful leaders, assist recruitment for illegal militias, and facilitate even the most gentle of us to inflict violence on others. Drawing upon the latest research from emerging areas such as behavioral genetics, biopsychology, and social and cognitive neuroscience, this book identifies the sources of compelling instincts and emotions, and how we can acknowledge and better manage them so as to develop international and societal peace more effectively. "This chapter introduces people to the basics of what readers need to know about social psychology, i.e. the study of how people's feelings, ideas and behaviours are influenced by the presence of others. It also looks at the increasingly important bio/neural factors such as genes, brain structure and hormonal processes that are now being examined and understood as relevant to any study of human behaviour, including group conflicts. In addition, it provides a brief introduction to the various methodologies that are increasingly able to measure social behavior, such as fMRI, electroencephalography, DNA analysis and hormonal testing"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction 1. On Being Mortal 2. The Amygdala Hijack 3. Us and Others 4. My Truth or Your Truth? 5. The Lure of Extremism 6. Follow the Leader 7. Accultured Norms 8. New Horizons, New Tribes 9. The Next Adaptation? 10. Peacebuilding More Successfully? References Index