Nonviolence and Peace Psychology: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Societal, and World Peace

The book opens with a Foreword by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson. They frame peace psychology through UNESCO’s famous claim that since wars begin in human minds, peace must also be built in human minds. The foreword defines peace psychology as the study of the information, values, attitudes, and behavioral competencies needed to resolve conflict without violence and to build harmonious relationships at intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, and international levels. The Preface explains the purpose of the book. Mayton notes that the twentieth century was both one of the bloodiest centuries in history and the first century in which large-scale nonviolent movements repeatedly succeeded against oppressive regimes. He argues that nonviolence is often misunderstood as ineffective, passive, or historically limited to Gandhi and King. The book therefore aims to show that nonviolent action is widespread, effective, theoretically grounded, and worthy of systematic social-scientific research. Chapter 1: Meaning of Nonviolence and Pacifism This chapter defines the key concepts of the book. Mayton distinguishes aggression, violence, pacifism, and nonviolence. Aggression is discussed mainly as intentional behavior aimed at harming another person, while violence is treated as a broader concept that may include physical force, psychological harm, structural violence, and collective violence. The chapter then distinguishes pacifism from nonviolence. Pacifism is usually related to opposition to war and may be grounded in religious, moral, political, or situational commitments. Nonviolence, by contrast, is not simply the absence of violence. It is an active use of power and influence to confront injustice without direct injury to opponents. Mayton gives special attention to Gandhi’s philosophy of ahimsa, satyagraha, and tapasya. He concludes by offering an integrated definition of principled and pragmatic nonviolence, emphasizing belief, motivation, willingness to suffer rather than retaliate, noncooperation with evil, and action for social justice. Chapter 2: Recent History of Nonviolent Responses to Conflict This chapter surveys historical examples of nonviolent action. Mayton argues that wars are usually more carefully documented than nonviolent struggles, even though nonviolent movements have played a major role in modern history. The chapter covers nonviolent action in the first half of the twentieth century, including trade union struggles, Gandhi’s campaigns in South Africa and India, Russian resistance to Tsarist rule, suffragette hunger strikes, the Vykom temple road campaign, the Bardoli satyagraha, the Salt March, resistance in Denmark and Norway, the Rosenstrasse protest in Germany, and civil strikes in El Salvador and Guatemala. The chapter then continues into later twentieth-century and twenty-first-century cases, showing that nonviolence is not limited to one country, one religion, or one historical moment. Its function is to demonstrate the empirical breadth of nonviolent action as a political and social force. Chapter 3: Theories of Nonviolence This chapter presents major theoretical approaches to nonviolence. Mayton organizes the discussion across several disciplines. Under philosophical views, he discusses Holmes’ theory of nonviolence. Under anthropological views, he presents Patfoort’s conceptual framework. Under sociological views, he discusses Ritter’s two-dimensional theory. Under psychological views, he presents Blumberg’s utility model, Hare’s social-psychological perspective, Kool’s theory, Teixeira’s theory, and Brenes’ model of peaceful selfhood. The chapter also reviews political theories, especially Gandhi, Gene Sharp, and Ackerman and Kruegler. It then considers multidisciplinary theories such as civilian-based defense and Burrowes’ strategic theory of nonviolent defense. The chapter concludes by locating nonviolence within peace psychology. Chapter 4: Intrapersonal Perspectives of Nonviolence This chapter studies nonviolence at the level of the individual person. Mayton examines the traits, values, and psychological orientations associated with a “peaceful person.” From an individualistic perspective, he discusses the independent self, personality characteristics, and values linked with nonviolence. These include qualities such as empathy, moral concern, self-regulation, openness, and prosocial orientation. From a collectivistic perspective, the chapter discusses the interdependent self and nonviolence in Eastern religious traditions. This section connects personal peace with wider relational, ethical, and spiritual frameworks. The chapter’s main contribution is to show that nonviolence begins not only in political strategy, but also in internal psychological formation. Chapter 5: Interpersonal Perspectives of Nonviolence This chapter examines conflict between persons and the interpersonal skills needed for nonviolent resolution. It begins with the nature of conflict, then discusses peaceful personality and behavioral tendencies such as agreeableness, forgiveness, cooperativeness, and trust. Mayton then presents nonviolent communication approaches and specific conflict-resolution methods, including negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and adjudication. The chapter also discusses preventive approaches such as conflict-resolution education, violence-prevention programs, nonviolence education, and peace education. The central argument is that nonviolence requires more than moral intention; it also requires trainable skills, communication competencies, institutional support, and structured procedures for transforming conflict. Chapter 6: Cultural and Societal Perspectives of Nonviolence This chapter moves from individuals and relationships to societies and cultures. Mayton discusses peaceful societies, nonviolent norms in less peaceful cultures, and the concept of cultures of peace. The chapter identifies major components of cultures of peace, including social justice, gender equality and empowerment, human rights, nonviolence, inclusiveness, civil society, education, peace education, and sustainability. It shows that nonviolence is not only an individual virtue or protest method, but also a social architecture requiring institutions, norms, and collective values. Chapter 7: Nonviolent Perspectives Within the Abrahamic Religions This chapter examines nonviolence in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í faith. For each tradition, Mayton introduces core beliefs and rituals, then discusses nonviolent teachings and notable advocates. The section on Christianity includes figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Dorothy Day. The broader point of the chapter is that religious traditions can provide moral vocabularies, communities of practice, and motivational frameworks for nonviolence, even though each tradition also contains internal debates about violence, war, justice, and peace. Chapter 8: Situational Influences on Nonviolent Action This chapter studies how context affects the likelihood and effectiveness of nonviolent action. Mayton discusses situational dimensions of nonviolent political action, including channel factors, terror management theory, and situational contexts that foster nonviolence. The chapter also examines construal and tension-system dimensions of nonviolent political action. It includes discussion of the military–economic–governmental–news complex, showing how large social systems shape public perception, political action, and possibilities for nonviolent resistance. Chapter 9: Measurement Tools for Research on Nonviolence and Related Concepts This chapter provides research tools for studying nonviolence empirically. Mayton discusses the Teenage Nonviolence Test, including reliability, concurrent validity, known-groups validity, and psychometric assessment with college students. The chapter also introduces other measures of nonviolence, pacifism, Gandhian personality, multidimensional nonviolence, nonviolent relationships, self-assessments of nonviolence, measures for assessing peaceful persons, and measures for cultures of peace. It includes an appendix with the Social and Personal Opinion Survey and a scoring key for the Teenage Nonviolence Test. Chapter 10: New Directions for Research on Nonviolence The final chapter outlines future research directions. Mayton argues that nonviolence and nonviolent action should become stronger areas of systematic empirical inquiry in the twenty-first century. The chapter proposes research questions in several areas: validating theories of nonviolence, studying peaceful persons across intrapersonal and interpersonal levels, researching cultures of peace, examining religion and worldviews, and developing interdisciplinary research approaches. It concludes by positioning nonviolence as both a practical strategy for social transformation and a serious research domain within peace psychology.