This
week on The Infinite Mind: Peace. It's easy to say "give
peace a chance," but why is that so hard to do? In this program,
we explore the art and science of resolving interpersonal
conflicts peacefully, examine some common obstacles to peace,
sit in on a mediation session between a landlord and his angry
tenant, and probe the role of interfaith dialog in promoting
peace. Guests include Robert
Mnookin, director of the Harvard Negotiation
Research Project; peace psychologist Dan Christie,
professor of psychology at the Ohio State University; psychologist
Dacher Keltner,
founding director of The Berkeley Center for the Development
of Peace and Well-being; storyteller Heather
Forest, founding director of Story Arts;
Imam Omar Abu-Namous,
imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York; Dean
James Parks Morton, president of the Interfaith
Center of New York; Venerable
T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, president of the Buddhist
Council of New York, and Rabbi
Gerry Serotta, co-chair of Rabbis for Human
Rights, North America. Plus making time for peace... commentary
by John Hockenberry.
In an introductory
essay, host Dr. Fred Goodwin
reflects on the role of trust and deterrence in ensuring peace.
Communication and a willingness to extend trust are important
in forwarding interpersonal peace, but he suggests that these
principles do not apply to international relations. As an
example of misplaced trust in international relations, he
cites British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's ill-fated
declaration on signing a nonaggression pact with Adolf Hitler
in 1938, "I believe it is peace for our time."
Next up,
The Infinite Mind's Devorah
Klahr reports on a professional mediation. Gerbert
Bonhomme is Verna Monrose's new landlord, and the two do not
get along. To settle their dispute, they have come to Community
Mediation Services, an organization in Queens that offers
free mediation. The two meet in a small room and sit at opposite
ends of the table. Their mediator, Z.Q. Abdu-Shahid sits between
them. He asks them to explain their situation. Bonhomme feels
that Monrose is harassing him. Monrose says Bonhomme is harassing
her. The mediator listens, only interrupting when the conversation
escalates into an argument. "What would it take to resolve
this matter?" Abdu-Shahid asks them both. Then they write
up and sign a contract, a synthesis of Bonhomme and Monrose's
stipulations. Bonhomme wants Monrose to speak nicely to her.
Monrose says she wants Bonhomme to stop talking to her "like
I'm nothing." Afterwards, Bonhomme says he will try to avoid
arguments with Monrose. She says that the next time she suspects
that he is harassing her, she will calmly ask him about his
intentions. "Next time, I'll ask," she says.
To contact
or learn more about Community Mediation Services visit the Community Mediation Services web
site or write to 89-64 163rd Street, Jamaica, New York
11432.
Next, Dr.
Fred Goodwin interviews Robert
Mnookin, professor of law at Harvard Law School
and director of the Harvard Negotiation Research Project.
A common problem in mediating disputes, Mnookin says, is that
the parties involved tend to see the situation in "zero sum"
terms, that is, "If I win, you lose and if you win, I lose."
He encourages all parties in the negotiation to find solutions
that will benefit everyone. Complex negotiations often involve
third parties negotiating on behalf of the involved parties.
Very often the negotiator's interests are not aligned with
the interests of the party he or she is representing, another
potential stumbling block to optimal resolution of the conflict.
He emphasizes two complementary skills for effective negotiation,
empathy and assertiveness. While he calls himself "a negotiation
imperialist," he says that it's not always appropriate to
negotiate with a hostile party. As an example, Mnookin points
to the opportunity British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
had to negotiate with Italy's leader Benito Mussolini in 1940.
Churchill was right to turn down Mussolini's offer to talk,
says Mnookin, as news of the negotiations would have dispirited
the British people and have interrupted the government's efforts
to rally them for war.
To learn
more about negotiation or to contact Robert Mnookin, visit
the web site for the Program
on Negotiation at Harvard Law School or write to The Program
on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, 513 Pound Hall, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 02138
Next, the
Infinite Mind's Emily Fisher
talks with storyteller Heather Forest, founder of the cultural arts
organization Story Arts. Ms. Forest tells a story from Africa
called "The Red and Blue Coat." Once there were two friends,
famous throughout their village for the closeness of their
friendship. One day, the village trickster decided to make
the two friends fight. He made a coat. Its right side was
blue and its left side was red. Making sure the two friends
saw him, he walked between them. The friends exclaimed on
the coat's beauty, but soon exchanged cross words and then
blows as they argued over the coat's color. In the middle
of their fight, the trickster returned, this time walking
towards them. The two men stopped fighting and accused the
trickster of making them fight. "You were both wrong and both
right," he tells them. "You're fighting because you only looked
at my coat from your own point of view."
To order Heather Forest's most recent book "Stone Soup"
click here.
To contact Heather Forest or Story Arts, learn more about
storytelling, or read versions of folktales from around the
world, visit the website Story Arts Online.
After a
short break, Dr. Fred Goodwin interviews peace psychologist Dan Christie,
professor of psychology at the Ohio State University and Dacher Keltner,
associate professor of psychology at the University of California,
Berkeley and founding director of The Berkeley Center for
the Development of Peace and Well-being. Dr. Christie explains
that peace psychology involves looking at the structural underpinnings
of violence and peace. Often members of different groups fight
when they perceive that another group is benefiting at their
cost. For instance, in South Africa many whites have become
more prejudiced after the dismantling of apartheid and the
institution of majority rule, says Dr. Christie. He says he
thinks its important for psychologists to "debunk notions
of biological determinism." While we may have biologically
based aggressive instincts, he says war and fighting are not
inevitable. Dr. Dacher Keltner discusses the evolution of
alternative instincts towards altruism and ways in which peaceful
passions and values can be cultivated.
To contact Dr. Dan Christie or learn
more about his work, visit this web page
or write to him at Department of Psychology, The Ohio
State University, Marion, Ohio 43302
To contact Dr. Dacher Keltner or learn more about his work,
visit
this web page or write to him at Psychology Department,
University of California, Berkeley, 3210 Tolman Hall #1650,
Berkeley, CA 94720-1650
Next, Dr.
Fred Goodwin moderates a round table discussion that explores
why religion has so often been used to justify violence and
the role that religious leaders can play in promoting peace.
Participating in the discussion are Imam Omar Abu-Namous, imam of the Islamic
Cultural Center of New York; Dean James Parks Morton, president of the Interfaith
Center of New York and the former dean of the Episcopalian
cathedral St. John the Divine; Venerable T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki,
president of the Buddhist Council of New York, and Rabbi Gerry Serotta,
co-chair of Rabbis for Human Rights, North America and associate
rabbi at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, Maryland. All state
that their religions include principles that support peaceful
interactions with people of other religions. Together they
discuss the problems that arise when politics and issues of
national identity become entwined in religion.
To contact
T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki or learn more about his work, visit the
web site for The
New York Buddhist Church or write to him at The New York
Buddhist Church, 331 Riverside Drive, New York, New York 10025-3421
To contact
Rabbi Gerry Serotta or learn more about his work, visit the web site for
Temple Shalom or write to him at Temple Shalom, 8401 Grubb
Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815-3000
To contact
Dean James Parks Morton or learn more about his work in forwarding
interfaith dialog, visit the web site for The Interfaith Center
of New York or write to him at The Interfaith Center of
New York, 40 East 30th Street, New York, New York, 10016 .
To contact
Imam Omar Abu-Namous or learn more about the Islamic Cultural
Center of New York write to him at The Islamic Cultural Center
of New York, 1711 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10029
Finally,
commentator John Hockenberry
shares thoughts about peace that he wrote from
a hillside in the Berkshires. Peace is always available to
us, he suggests, but we need to make time for it.
Listen to this program now