PSY 393 - MYERS, Social Psyc, Chp 13 outline-notes. Conflict & Peacemaking

PSY 393 - MYERS, Social Psyc, Chp 13 outline-notes. Conflict & Peacemaking Chapter 13: Conflict and Peacemaking OVERVIEW: Conflict is a perceived incompatibility of actions or goals. Social dilemmas such as nuclear arms, global warming, and overpopulation occur as various parties pursue their self-interest to their collective detriment. The Prisoner’s Dilemma and the games have been used to study how well-meaning people easily become trapped in mutually destructive behavior. Tragedy of the Commons : The "commons" is any shared resource, including air, water, energy sources, and food supplies. The tragedy occurs when individuals consume more than their share, with the cost of their doing so dispersed among all, causing the ultimate collapse--the tragedy--of the commons. An economic problem in which every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits. Generally, the resource of interest is easily available to all individuals. The Tragedy of the Commons occurs when individuals neglect the well-being of society (or the group) in the pursuit of personal gain. For example, if neighboring farmers increase the number of their own sheep living on a common block of land, eventually the land will become depleted and not be able to support the sheep, which is detrimental to all. Social Trap: A situation in which the conflicting pa