Geschichte der Friedenspsychologie

Peace psychology is a relatively young subfield of psychology in Germany. It is assigned to the interdisciplinary research field of peace and conflict research. Peace psychology provides studies and knowledge about "negotiation behavior" (Häcker & Stapf, 2009, p. 347), which offer explanations and solutions to various, politically based disputes. Currently, peace psychology "is concerned with psychol. aspects of peace, conflict resolution (conflict, social), and war" and "can be divided into four themes: Education, Research, Practice, and Influencing Policy Processes" (Sommer, 2019, para. 1). Since the late 1960s, research on "psychological factors" (Wissenschaftsrat, 1970, S. 4) has also been of interest to peace and conflict studies on the part of the state. Out of this interest, various institutions, institutionalizations such as study programs for peace and conflict research (Zech, 2019) as well as different state or state-political as well as civic initiatives were founded in the 20th century – the latter also on the side of the two German states. Already in the 19th century, there had been individual foundations of peace movements (Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft – Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen [DFG-VK], 2022).