Sociopsychological barriers to peacemaking and overcoming them: A review of new psychological interventions.

For most of his career, Daniel Bar-Tal has been one of the more prolific contributors to the understanding of the psychological foundations of intergroup conflicts, with extensive writings on intractable conflicts. In recent years, Bar-Tal, along with his students, has taken upon himself the mission of finding new ways—using new approaches, different from the ones usually used by social psychologists—to intervene and overcome the psychological barriers in order to promote peace. Based on Bar-Tal’s writings, we begin this chapter by elaborating on the sociopsychological barriers and their detrimental effect on societies immersed in intractable conflicts. We then review and discuss the virtues and limitations of new interventions, derived mainly, but not exclusively, from the work of Bar-Tal and his students, that have been designed to overcome these barriers and promote intergroup peace. Finally, following the limitations that stem from the interventions reviewed, we suggest a new line of interventions based on what is termed paradoxical thinking.