Current Literature Around Natural Abilities to Resolve Conflicts

All of the literature reviewed and life works studied here add up to an emerging view that humans have natural abilities that help them resolve conflict. Aureli, De Waal and others call this idea “Natural Conflict Resolution”. “According to evolutionary theory, it is logical to expect conflict management mechanisms as natural phenomena that function in maintaining the integrity of groups and the associated benefits to each group member” (Aureli 4). Aureli concludes that his analyses “highlight once more the similarities across species, cultures, and disciplines and strengthen the perspective of conflict resolution as a natural phenomenon” (Aureli 9 ). This paper will examine five constructs of universal behavior that fit in directly with conflict management systems and resolution. These five behaviors have naturally emerged during my review of the literature and have consistently surfaced throughout my studies of mediation and conflict resolution. In very broad terms, the behaviors are: reconciliation, cooperation, forgiveness, relationship value awareness, and empathy.

“Natural Conflict Resolution” is a term for a theoretical trend in peacemaking today. This theory states that not only do the fittest survive when the going gets tough in conflict situations, but that cooperation among individuals, groups, and entire societies is a natural ability and a natural reaction that works to promote long-term survival of the parties and the species in conflict (Yarn 68). In a broad sense, the natural resolution of conflicts in both humans and non-human primates has similar roots.

The importance of the nature vs. nurture (born with vs. learned) aspect of this research cannot be understated! If humans are born with one or more common capacities that help them resolve conflict, then it could follow that resolving cross-cultural conflicts should focus on and leverage this/these common capacities as a foundation for the process. Cultural differences make human existence rich and vibrant and these differences cannot be ignored, yet these differences are also what make some conflicts inevitable. Conflict resolution processes that understand the cultural differences, and rigorously use the human commonalities as a foundation for the process will, in many cases, serve parties best.

I have limited my research to Western and English language literature. I have so far found no literature reviews that focus on the idea of identifying all of the common abilities described in this paper. I have found various literature reviews and compilations of works that focus on single abilities. Frans De Waal and Filippo Aureli, for instance, focus a great deal of energy on reconciliation and relationship abilities in human and non-human primates in their book “Natural Conflict Resolution” (Aureli 3-9). Morton Deutsch, a pioneer in social psychology, has done extensive research and reviews on the idea of cooperation and the human capacity to understand the value of cooperation. Bruce Bonta has done extensive literature reviews on the subject of peaceful (non-violent) societies and what the potential commonalities might be. I will be interested to explore beyond the Western view, as I believe that exploration will lead to additional studies which will reinforce the commonalities found so far.

Stay tuned for ideas around nature vs. nurture and negotiating techniques in the next post....