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Despite our advances in technology and education, we still live in a world permeated by violence. This introductory textbook in the field of peace psychology addresses the psychological causes of violence and nonviolence, conflict resolution, nonviolent struggle, and the confluence of public policy and private lifestyles.

Just as health providers study disease and its prevention, understanding the causes of violent behavior and how to prevent such behavior is a basic cornerstone for those who are working towards a healthy society. Another parallel: maintaining physical health involves positive practices; similarly, positive nonviolent approaches need to be psychologically understood and encouraged. The second edition of The Psychology of Peace: An Introduction demonstrates what can be learned through the lens of peace psychology, providing a solid foundation in the psychological theories needed for building and maintaining a peaceful society and peaceful individuals.

This second edition incorporates the tremendous amount of new research and subsequent events since 2003, including post-2003 violent and nonviolent revolutions, such as the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the nonviolent overthrowing of dictators in Tunisia and Egypt. Author MacNair again outlines why application of psychological study to the soundness of decision-making for public policy--and to the policies themselves--is crucial knowledge, and how applying the study to private practices and even art can help build up a peaceful society.

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Library Journal Review

Incorporating fresh research and examples from wars and other events since the release of the first edition in 2003 (but just missing out on the Occupy Wall Street movement), MacNair's (director, Inst. for Integrated Social Analysis; Working for Peace: A Handbook of Practical Psychology and Other Tools) survey offers a psychological perspective on the causes and effects of violence and nonviolence. The work also provides insight into general principles of conflict resolution; the (MacNair claims) understudied field of "assertive nonviolence," or, as she puts it even more colorfully, "loving aggression"; and the wide range of activities under the purview of public policy, from terrorism to hate crimes and economic sanctions to abortions. The book closes with guidelines for promoting "Gentle Lives and Culture" and an overview of history-of-peace studies. VERDICT Despite basing her presentation at least as much on academic sources as on recent history, MacNair writes with sufficient force and clarity to keep general readers, even young ones, engaged: "To keep any horror going, it helps to think of it as numbers and abstract principles on a page." Furthermore, aside from the problem of a large bibliography shoveled into a single alphabetical list, the unusually broad scope of her analysis will provide a valuable intellectual structure for further study of the roots and branches of war and peace at all levels, from the individual to worldwide.-John Peters, formerly with NYPL (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This accurately titled and well-written survey of peace psychology provides an excellent introduction for general readers or undergraduate students. In addition to an informed discussion of the psychological causes and effects of violence and nonviolence, MacNair provides a useful chronology of peace psychology, a list of references, and a detailed index. The concluding chapters focus on conflict resolution, nonviolent struggle, and social movements as well as public policy issues and personal practices central to building peace cultures. A particularly encouraging development in interdisciplinary peace studies, as MacNair dramatizes, is how nonviolence theory and strategy relate to a range of problem-solving approaches to real-world situations. Attractive features of the book include its lack of jargon and its clear delineation of the various approaches to conflict from the interpersonal to the international level. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers and undergraduates. M. True Assumption College

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Rachel M. MacNair , PhD, is 2012 president-elect of the American Psychological Association's Division 48, Society for Peace Psychology, and will serve as president of the division in 2013. Her published works includes Praeger's Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress: The Psychological Consequences of Killing and Working for Peace: A Handbook of Practical Psychology and other Tools .