Abstract

Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) offers a powerful framework for understanding the conflict and dispute between two parties. The bulk of the literature on PCP conflict resolution addresses issues in the context of families and small groups. In this paper, we present the analysis of sociality in the context of a long-standing conflict in Northern Ireland¹1 Despite being nearly one hundred years old, the very term Northern Ireland is contentious in name, with many Nationalists calling it the ‘six counties’ or the ‘North of Ireland’. For this article, the official title of Northern Ireland was used.. We used the Perceiver Element Grid (PEG) to map the construing of representatives from the two main communities in Northern Ireland²2 There are multiple descriptions for the two main communities in Northern Ireland. On one side is the Nationalist community, mostly Catholic by birth, who largely describe themselves as ‘Irish’ and have a desire to see a united Ireland. The terms Nationalists, Republicans and Catholics are used interchangeably by some when describing this community. This article has used the term, Nationalist. On the other side is the Unionist community, mostly Protestant by birth, who have a desire for Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom. They describe themselves as any combination of British, Ulster, Protestants, Loyalists and Irish. This article has used the term, Unionist. Whilst, there are Catholic Unionists and Protestant Nationalists, their numbers are generally considered to be small. This article is focused on the views from representatives and voters from both of Northern Ireland’s two main communities. It is important to note that there is a significant number of voters in Northern Ireland, often referred to as the middle-ground, who do not vote for parties aligned to either Nationalism or Unionism.. Following 30 years of violent conflict and a subsequent 20-year peace process, these communities remain diametrically opposed to each other. In this paper, we explore the potential of the PEG as a means by which to assess sociality among parties to the Northern Ireland conflict. In addition, we discuss how the PEG could serve as a useful tool in conflict resolution, particularly when interviewees are asked to construe from the position of an imagined future. We draw conclusions relating to how developing sociality could be used to help improve inter-community relationships.

摘要

个人建构心理学 (PCP) 为理解两方之间的冲突和争端提供了一个强大的框架。大部分关于 PCP 冲突解决的文献都涉及家庭和小团体背景下的问题。在本文中，我们提出了在北爱尔兰长期冲突背景下的社会性分析¹1 尽管已有近 100 年的历史，但北爱尔兰这个词在名称上存在争议，许多民族主义者称其为“六个县”或“爱尔兰北部”。本文使用了北爱尔兰的官方名称。. 我们使用感知器元素网格 (PEG) 来绘制北爱尔兰两个主要社区代表的构造图²2 对北爱尔兰的两个主要社区有多种描述。一方面是民族主义社区，他们大多是天生的天主教徒，他们在很大程度上将自己描述为“爱尔兰人”，并希望看到一个统一的爱尔兰。一些人在描述这个社区时可以互换使用民族主义者、共和党人和天主教徒这两个词。本文使用了“民族主义者”一词。另一边是工会社区，他们大多是新教徒，他们希望北爱尔兰留在英国。他们将自己描述为英国人、阿尔斯特人、新教徒、保皇派和爱尔兰人的任意组合。本文使用了Unionist一词。虽然有天主教工会主义者和新教民族主义者，但他们的人数通常被认为很小。本文重点关注来自北爱尔兰两个主要社区的代表和选民的观点。值得注意的是，北爱尔兰有大量选民，通常被称为中间立场，他们不投票支持与民族主义或工会主义一致的政党。. 在经历了 30 年的暴力冲突和随后的 20 年和平进程之后，这些社区仍然彼此截然相反。在本文中，我们探讨了 PEG 作为评估北爱尔兰冲突各方社会性的一种手段的潜力。此外，我们还讨论了 PEG 如何成为解决冲突的有用工具，特别是当受访者被要求从想象的未来的立场进行解释时。我们得出关于如何利用发展社会性来帮助改善社区间关系的结论。