International Psychology for Peace and Prosperity

We are six years away from reaching our collective promise, as humankind, to ensure “peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future” made concrete by Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; https://sdgs.un.org/goals). The SDGs explicitly acknowledge that prosperity, or human thriving, go hand in hand with peace. Embedded in the SDGs is the acknowledgment that we can only realize them through global partnerships. The SDGs thus represent a systems and ecological perspective. Peace and prosperity for humanity need to be worked on by us all – developed and developing countries, world/state leaders and individual citizens. Nonetheless, this logical and seemingly simple standpoint becomes extremely complex in practice when lived out, from day-to-day interactions with individuals who we perceive as different, to decisions that promote group or national interests that impact thousands, sometimes even millions of lives.

In the past year, we again mourned thousands of lives which were taken due to conflicts across the world, and the gravity of the humanitarian crisis, suffering, and additional trauma it created. As psychologists, we know that it is not a single event which determines reactions in conflict situations. Our perceptions and actions are wrought by our nuanced and shared histories, cultures, and identities. Colonization and semi-colonization, fascism, manipulation, and cruelty enabled by greed and the desire for power and superiority, for example, perpetuate othering and dehumanization. This is reflected illustratively in the media, in the language used and in what receives how much attention. In 2023, conflicts leading to large numbers of fatalities occurred across the world. Even though not considered equally newsworthy, they have in common that humans are suffering. The statement by Martin Griffiths, United Nations Humanitarian Relief Chief, on 14 October 2023 that “The past week has been a test for humanity, and humanity is failing” thus does not just apply to events in the Middle East. All conflict situations are tests for humanity, and we could only pass the test if we can stop dehumanizing others. Dehumanization occurs when those in an outgroup are viewed as lacking human qualities and are thus considered as less human than those in one’s own group (Vaes et al., 2012). Dehumanization is used to justify the inhumane treatment of an outgroup, which serves as a precursor for oppression and violence. As emphasized by Denton-Borhaug (2023, para 1) “Dehumanization always precedes and paves the way for the horrors of war. Human beings won’t kill other humans if they truly believe their lives are as worthy as their own”.

Humanization, on the other hand, means valuing others as fellow human beings regardless of perceived differences. It encourages empathy and support (Kirkwood, 2017) and is strongly related to trust – both are important elements in fostering peace (Montiel et al., 2019). For decades, psychologists have sought to understand how to create the conditions which allow us to see each other as human. In his Intergroup Contact Theory, Allport (1954) stipulated the importance of creating opportunities for positive interactions among members of different social groups through which to minimize bias, prejudice, and discrimination (for a recent overview see Christ & Kauff, 2019). Haji and Noguchi (2020) found that these interactions need not be in-person. Indirect contact through knowing a member of one’s own group having a close relationship with a person in an outgroup or observations of cross-group friendship (vicariously or through parasocial contact in media) can foster positive views of people perceived as different from us. We argue that as psychologists we have a social responsibility to use our knowledge and skills about individual and intergroup behavior to advance less destructive ways of dealing with conflict, to ensure no human life is considered more worthy of protection than another’s and in this way to contribute to achieving SDG Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

We hope that through the articles included in International Perspective of Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation the journal creates a space in which psychologists, practitioners, academics, students, and its wider readership get to know more about different cultural backgrounds, religions, social milieus, etc., and get to share new, locally applicable but globally relevant approaches of fostering peace. Having access to “research that examines human behavior and experiences around the globe… that is contextually informed, (and) culturally inclusive” (International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 2023) hopefully contributes to battling misinformation and ignorance. The articles included in this first issue of 2024 reflect these thrusts with research coming from the Carribean (Asnaani et al., 2024), Ghana (Nonterah et al., 2024), the Philippines (Baquiano, 2024), and Vietnam (Nguyen et al., 2024) as well as the multicultural study of Gopal et al. (2024).

We hope that through these efforts, no matter how small, IPP will be able to contribute to global peace building and to reaching our collective commitment to come closer if not to fully achieving the SDGs in 2030 and beyond. May 2024 bring greater peace for all.