Behavioral Strategies for Constructing Nonviolent Cultures With Youth

Abstract

Youth violence is widely recognized as a critical social issue in the United States, and many approaches to prevention have been developed in recent years. Emerging research suggests that only approaches that are deeply embedded in cultural, community, and organizational contexts are likely to be powerful enough to have a meaningful collective impact. No programs of this kind that are also truly practical and socially valid have yet reached a level where they can be regarded as well established, but data are beginning to appear that can guide community efforts. In this review, two classes of behavioral programming that appear promising as partial solutions to this need are identified: universal skills training and ecological strategies that focus on interlocking cultural practices. Progressive refinements in both are appearing through programs of developmental research. This paper reviews the state of the science in these efforts.

Methods for Reducing Violence in Schools: A Systematic Review

“…While many schools focus on security utilizing surveillance, metal detectors, and increased police presence, others have suggested that schools should focus on the impact of school culture (Mattaini & McGuire, 2006;Heinen et al, 2007;Coyle, 2008;Bosworth & Judkins, 2014). Creating safe school environments using security techniques help students and faculty feel safe; however, these techniques do little to change the environment that cultivates violent behavior (May, 2014).…”

Psychosocial Approaches to Peace-Building in Colombia

“…Unfortunately social organizations seem to have ignored or to be unaware of the findings of behaviour analysts' which warn against social coercion and instead promote alternative ways of social control (Ballesteros de Valderrama 2000;Mattaini 2003Mattaini , 2006Mattaini and Addams 2001;Mattaini and McGuire 2006). In this respect, it is worth mentioning other theoretical perspectives that are compatible with this line of thinking: Arendt (1987), Freire (2004), ), Habermas (2003, Lederach (1998), andMartín-Baró (2003).…”

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a Major Form of Dehumanization in the Modern World

“…Cultural practices (not individual persons) survive over time as a result of natural selection by differential consequences. Such practices involve interlinked contingencies of reinforcement in which the behavior and resultant products of each person function as environmental events that influence others (e.g., Biglan, 1995; Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sander, 2012; Glenn, 1991; Mattaini & McGuire, 2006). For each cultural practice, we can ask: Who is involved?…”