How Do Minds Immersed In Endless Conflict Think?

Do you imagine yourself living in conflict? Waking up every day thinking there is a high probability that it could be your last? Unfortunately, there are people who don’t even need to imagine. These people are those who live day to day immersed in a conflict that seems to have no end.

We call intractable conflicts the conflicts or wars that persist over time and for which the solution does not seem to arrive. The solution to these conflicts is difficult to obtain and their permanence in time produces a great strain on the people who live in them directly, whether in a neutral position or on one of the opposite sides.

Those who are forced to live in this situation for a long period of time end up developing mental structures that allow them to reduce the consequences of conflict in their lives.  The downside is that these structures also make it difficult to achieve peace.

What is an intractable conflict?

Confrontations, to be considered intractable, must have certain characteristics. Some of them are:

• They have a violent character. Violence can be physical, structural or symbolic.
• They have a long temporal duration.
• Conflict must be centralized and total. Life is affected by the development of conflict;  he is a constant concern and makes the satisfaction of their needs only fulfilled when the conflict allows.
• Security is a constant need in the lives of those involved in conflict.
• There is a perception of zero-sum.  The disputing parties do not recognize the needs of their opponents.

Do you know any conflicts with these features? Of course. At the moment, the war in Syria and Iraq fits this definition perfectly, although they are not the only ones.

The evolution of the mind in conflicts

The psychology of people who are affected by these conflicts changes. The negative experiences they have to face make their socio-psychological structure different. This structure consists of three elements that are interconnected:

• Collective memory : social beliefs related to the history of the conflict and that describe the beginning, progression and most important events that occur during the course of the conflict. It is a selective memory that remembers only the events that benefit its cause. This collective memory includes different types of memory such as popular memory, official memory, autobiographical memory, historical memory and cultural memory. Its retransmission is carried out through the news.

• The ethos of confrontation : these are shared beliefs about the characteristics of society and the meaning of social identity. It is an organized view of the world, which allows members of society to understand the context of the conflict in which they live and which guides their behavior. The main beliefs are the fairness of the group’s goals, a positive image, victimization, the delegitimization of the adversary, patriotism and unity.
• The collective emotional orientation : is the tendency to express specific emotions. The most commonly expressed emotions are fear, anger and hatred, but also humiliation, pride and hope.

Conflicts from the sofa

This framework provides a clear, holistic, and meaningful explanation of why the conflict started, why it is sustained, and why it will not be resolved. However, we, who see everything from the tranquility of our homes, do not have this same socio-psychological structure.

Our views on the conflict will be different from those immersed in it, because the consequences for some and others are different. It is important to understand this structure when judging the opinions of people who live day to day immersed in a conflict, in order to understand that its resolution will not be easy if these structures do not change.