Personal Peacefulness - Psychological Perspectives

Personal Peacefulness examines the existing theories and knowledge about the peacefulness of individuals, including inner peace, interpersonal peacefulness, and peaceful attitudes towards groups and nations. It uses the term 'personal peacefulness' to refer to the peaceful states, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals, and it discusses the phenomena and determinants of personal peacefulness in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup domains. Also addressed is the relationship between personal peacefulness and well-being, describing various methods for enhancing the peacefulness of individuals. Within the framework of a scholarly and scientific approach to the study of personal peacefulness, various psychological perspectives are represented: personality, social, clinical, and positive psychology perspectives, peacefulness as nonviolence, attachment theory and the development of affect regulation, a human needs theory approach, Buddhist conceptions of compassion and mindfulness, a natural science perspective describing physiological foundations for personal peacefulness, phenomenological perspectives, and peacefulness as the promotion of conflict resolution. The book is an important resource for scholars, researchers, and educators in psychology, political science and in a variety of other areas who study and teach topics such as empathy, prosocial behavior, personality, psychological well-being, mental health, personal development, peace and conflict and conflict resolution.

Gregory K. Sims has been awarded appointments in numerous colleges and universities including: The University of California, Berkeley; Yale University; Temple University, The University of Nevada, Reno, Santa Clara University and San Mateo College. He was for many years a member of the clinical faculty in Psychiatry at The Stanford University Medical School. Prior to that he was for three years a Visiting Scholar in Anthropology at Stanford. He is a licensed psychologist, receiving his Ph.D. Degree from Stanford University. Dr. Sims is one of the co-founders of The Division of Peace Psychology in the APA and is currently Chair of its Committee for the Promotion and Research of Personal Peace. He was First Author of a book entitled Treating Spiritual Disorders; Promoting Spiritual Recovery (2001 Health Access Press). He has authored journal articles and other published writings. He has, for several years, been an on-line active writer for the Learning Zone of the Dalai Lama Foundation for Peace and Ethics as First Author of An Eleven Part Exploration into Aspects and Practices of Personal Peace (audio and written). He writes a daily message entitled Additional Thoughts and Perspectives on The Eleven Explorations. For several decades he was Clinical Director at Unicorn Youth Services, a residential treatment facility for troubled youth located in Mendocino County, California. Finally, years ago, he was radio host (KZYX) for a program entitled Meditations 'round Midnight. Linden L. Nelson is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at California Polytechnic State University. He is an Editorial Board Member of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, Chairperson for the Peace and Education Working Group of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (Peace Psychology Division 48 of the American Psychological Association), and past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility. His research and writing has addressed development of cooperation and competition in children, peace education, militaristic attitude, peaceful personality, and evaluation of curricula and instruction about peace and conflict resolution. Mindy Puopolo, Psy.D. received her doctorate from Pepperdine University and is the Director of the PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology at California Lutheran University. Dr. Puopolo has held adjunct teaching positions at California State University Northridge where she earned an award as the Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year. Dr. Puopolo's research interests include peace psychology, assessment, attachment theory, intimate partner violence, gender and sexuality. Over the past three years, Dr. Puopolo has been the Principle Investigator for a large, multi-year grant which supported the development and implementation of an Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Program. In addition to teaching, Dr. Puopolo is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in neuropsychological assessment and psychodynamic psychotherapy with an emphasis on object relations theory. Dr. Puopolo maintains a small private practice in Ventura County, California.