The Development of Views On Conflict, War, and Peace Among School Children
| Published date | 01 June 1968 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234336800500205 |
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Author | Trond Ålvik |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
THE
DEVELOPMENT
OF
VIEWS
ON
CONFLICT,
WAR,
AND
PEACE
AMONG
SCHOOL
CHILDREN
A
Norwegian
Case
Study*
By
TROND
ÅLVIK
Institute
for
Educational
Research,
University
of
Oslo,
and
international
Peace
Research
Institute,
Oslo
1.
Introduction
1.1.
Previous
research
As
far
as
we
have
been
able
to
ascertain,
the
research
literature
contains
com-
paratively
few
references
to
investigations
explicitly
dealing
with
children’s
concep-
tions
of
the
topics
’war’
and
’peace’.
Further,
such
research
has
largely
dealt
with
descriptive
overviews,
as
contrasted
to
studies
aimed
at
uncovering
relations
among
variables.
And
of
the
two
subjects,
’war’
and
’peace’,
the
latter
is
by
far
the
least
explored.
To
the
degree
that
the
studies
reviewed’
can
be
considered
representative,
certain
trends
emerge:
First,
the
tendency
goes
from
more
or
less
descriptive
overviews,
to
attempts
at
uncovering
relations.
Even
in
the
more
descriptive
studies,
however,
certain
independent
variables
seem
to
have
been
considered
of
importance.
These
include
age,
sex,
intelligence,
and
socio-
economic
background.
Second,
there
seems
to
be
some
agreement
on
the
possible
in-
fluence
of
these
variables
between
studies
done
at
different
times
and
places
and
with
different
methods:
a)
In
all
these
studies,
age
is
an
im-
portant
factor.
An
understanding
of
war
seems
to
emerge
slowly
with
age,
with
the
age
levels
11-13
constituting
an
important
dividing
line
in
the
course
of
development.
b)
Three
of
the
studies
also
mention
the
sex
variable.
The
sexes
differ
both
in
interest
and
in
information
where
war
is
concerned;
likewise
in
degree
of
emphasis
placed
on
human
aspects.
c)
Other
factors
are
intellectual
level
and
socio-economic
background.
The
latter
seems
to
accelerate
or
retard
ideas
concerning
war
and
peace,
de-
pending
on
what
milieu
the
subject
is
exposed
to.
Third,
children
seem
to
have
fewer
ideas
connected
with
the
notion
of
peace
than
with
the
notion
of
war;
likewise,
they
seem
to
understand
little
of
what
is
required
to
maintain
peace
between
conflicting
parties.
The
reasons
why
these
various
variables
may
be
at
work
in
shaping
the
concepts
of
war
and
peace
seem
scarcely
discussed.
Cooper
(1965)
follows
a
line
of
reasoning
which
indicates
how
one
may
proceed
to
disentangle
the
various
factors
underlying
the
concept
development,
thus
opening
up
the
possibility
of
explaining
how
and
why
variables
like
age
and
socio-economic
background
are
related
to
concepts
con-
cerning
war
and
peace.
Cooper
found
that
the
subjects
pass
through
a
series
of
stages
in
their
develop-
ment,
and
that
they
are
subject
to
long
and
short
term
influences
in
their
thinking.
From
his
results
we
list
the
following,
of
spe-
cial
interest for
the
present
investigation.
1 )
By
the
time
a
child
is
7
or
8,
he
has
fairly
well-defined
ideas
of
what
war
and
peace
are.
2)
At
all
ages,
the
bulk
of
associations
is
concerned
with
conventional
war.
3)
The
younger
subjects
are
primarily
concerned
with
the
concrete
aspects
of
war;
but
as
the
child
grows
older,
these
are
displaced
in
favor
of
a
recognition
of
the
consequences
and
actions
of
war.
172
4)
’Peace’
prompts
fewer
responses
than
’war’.
Ideas
about
peace,
as
measured
by
facility
of
expression,
lag
behind
war
in
development.
At
all
events,
the
idea
of
’peace’
to
these
English
children
scarcely
represents
a
vigorous
drive
towards
international
co-operation,
but
peace
is
rather
conceived
of
as
a
state
of
mind
or
’inner
peace’.
5)
Whereas
8-year-olds
argue
that
war
has
no
justification,
only
a
handful
of
the
15-year-olds
share
this
view.
The
15-year-olds
are
firm
in
their
belief
that
war
is
justified
to
’punish’
an
aggressor
in
order
to
demonstrate
to
him
his
’immorality’.
Further,
it
seems
as
if
the
subject
in
the
middle
teens
conceives
of
only
a
finite
amount
of
morality
which
he
must
distrib-
ute
amongst
the
conflicting
parties:
when
one
party
is
right,
the
other
must
be
wrong.
6)
For
the
young
child,
peaceful
co-
existence
is
in the
nature
of
things.
With
age,
however,
the
subjects
increasingly
appreciate
the
motiva-
tions
for
actions.
Instinctive
human
motivations
of
a
negative
sort
multi-
ply
in
number
and
subtlety
with
age;
hence,
fewer
restrictions
are
placed
on
justifications
for
war.
In
discussing
his
findings,
Cooper
pre-
sumes
that
certain
of
the
trends
found
are
necessary
stages
of
development,
while
others
may
vary with
environmental
cir-
cumstances,
the
information
available,
etc.
Following
Piaget,
he
puts
forth
an
idea
concerning
how
experiental
factors
interacting
with
the
natural
phenomena
of
intellectual
growth
may
lead
up
to
a
’schema
of
conflict’.
Although
Piaget’s
concepts
cannot
be
directly
applied
to
the
topic
in
question,
he
says,
they
are
in-
troduced
to
demonstrate
a
useful
method
of
treating
children’s
reasoning
and
ca-
pacities
at
different
ages.
1.2.
The
problem
All
the
factors
present
in
Cooper’s
’schema
of
conflict’
interact
with
the
nat-
ural
phenomena
of
intellectual
growth,
a
developmental
sequence
which
is,
at
least
where
order
is
concerned,
more
or
less
biologically
determined.
Put
differently:
growth
in
the
ability
to
relate
multiple
perspectives
with
regard
to
conflict
and
conflict
prevention
is
somehow
linked
with
the
ability
to
relate
multiple
perspectives
in
general,
in
the
logical
sense.
In
the
present
study
we
shall
try
to
tap
this
dimension
of
relating
multiple
per-
spectives
in
the
logical
sense,
and
then
re-
late
this
dimension
to
findings
concerning
children’s
conception
of
’war’
and
’peace’
and
to
findings
concerning
children’s
moral
judgement
of
war.
Since
the
chil-
dren’s
conceptions
of
’war’
and
’peace’
may
somehow
be
related
to
socio-economic
level
and
thereby
to
the
sources
of
in-
formation
available,
we
also
include
some
measures
of
this
topic.
In
the
attempt
to
uncover
possible
re-
lations
between
these
dimensions,
several
subvariables
will
have
to
be
introduced
and
controlled.
Obviously,
age
is
a
crucial
one;
and
as
the
study
will
be
related
to
Piaget’s
theory,
the
age
levels
should
cor-
respond
to
the
milestones
he
presents.
However,
the
dependent
variables
also
seem
susceptible
to
the
influence
of
socio-
economic
background;
hence
this
will
also
have
to
be
controlled.
1.3.
A
theoretical
framework
1.3.1.
Piaget’s
theory
of
intellectual
develop-
ment
According
to
Piaget’s
theory,
the devel-
opment
of
concepts
and
relational
think-
ing
is
age-related.
In
the
course
of
his
intellectual
development,
the
child
goes
through
three
main
stages,
the
first
one
being
’sensory-motor’,
the
second
’con-
crete-operational’,
and
the
third
’formal-
operational’.
Relatively
precise
predic-
tion
from
stage
of
development
to
types
of
concepts
and
relational
thinking
might
have
been
possible
if
there
were
no
other
factors
intervening.
However,
Piagets’
theory
also
contains
an
element
called
’horizontal
decalage’ :
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