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eventually engaging in the armed struggle and the government defending itself by
hnnting down the "terrorists".
Attitudes
These are the perceptions or beliefs ofgroups about other groups. For example,
one group may believe that the other group is less valuable than it, as the whites who
believed they were superior to the African people; or that the other group is planning to
destroy it; or that the other group's beliefs are of a lower standard, as in South Africa
where the African people had to adopt western beliefs and religions instead of their
traditional ones; or that the one group is a danger to the other.
As mentioned before, negative behaviour can cause negative attitudes, which
may in turn make a bad situation worse. Or bad behaviour can worsen the situation,
which in turn will reinforce negative attitudes.
Harris and Reilly (http://www.idea.int/ publications!
democracv and deep rooted conflictJhome.htm) propose the conflict triangle, which
could be used in a reverse manner to show that a reduction in aggressive behaviour and
negative attitudes, or improving the situation may lead to a reduction oftension.
Stereotyping
"Stereotyping is a basic way of absorbing information." (Padilla 1998:2) It
occurs when people make associations about other people based on their observations
and experience." Stereotypes can also be defined as " generalizations that are often
oversimplified and wrong." (http://www.colorado.edu!
conflictJpeace!treatment!fixstereo.htm)
This is more so in conflict situations when
images ofopponents become hostile because they are based on "very sketchy and often
erroneous information." especially when communication is not there. This can be
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