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Helping Kids! Cross-Cultural Research on Children’s Prosocial Behavior in Societies Transitioning to Peace
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File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Chap16-Bähr.docx | 37.5 KB |
Date Issued
04 September 2021
Date Available
12T17:00:43Z May 2023
Abstract
Intrastate conflicts dominate the twenty-first century. Understanding the psychological mechanisms necessary to transform such settings into more peaceful societies is essential. Toward that end, Helping Kids! is a cross-cultural project that focuses on children in conflict-affected contexts. Moving away from the conceptualization of youth as perpetrators or powerless victims, Helping Kids! recognizes that children can foster a peaceful future, despite growing up in the shadow of war. This chapter approaches peace holistically and understands it as not merely the absence of violence, exploring a conceptualization of positive peace. In line with this understanding, Helping Kids! goes beyond reducing prejudice to focus on intergroup prosocial acts. The chapter first outlines how outgroup prosociality can be understood as an antecedent of peacebuilding, then presents evidence from elementary school-aged children in five different contexts of intergroup conflict (Northern Ireland, Croatia, Kosovo, Republic of North Macedonia, and Israel) to reflect both the complexity and diversity of this area of research. We highlight both the common characteristics as well as differences across the Helping Kids! contexts and how children can contribute to a transition to peace. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research and practice.
Other Sponsorship
United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund
British Psychological Society
Society for Research on Child Development
Zefat Academic College
Type of Material
Book Chapter
Publisher
Springer
Series
Peace Psychology Book Series
Copyright (Published Version)
2021 the Authors
Web versions
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
Part of
López López, W. and Taylor, L.K. (eds.). Transitioning to Peace: Promoting Global Social Justice and Non-violence
ISBN
978-3-030-77688-6
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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