Psy450 Ethnic Group Conflict

CONFLICT OF ETHNIC GROUPS
Psyc450

Christopher A. Page

January 20th, 2013

There are many people in the world that are at war with each other and it’s a shame to see so many different types of ethnic groups that are so much different but on the other hand have a lot of things that are in common. Since the beginning of time there has always been some kind of jealousy or arguments between ethnic groups and each of their ways of lives can be a bit different which can cause hate crimes and such to each of the different ethnic groups. Psychology can come into play to help solve some of the problems that can occur between two ethnic groups. Cross-cultural psychology is a branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors influence human behavior. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) So in other words we as a whole can use cross culture psychology to help determine the human behavior and why a certain ethnic group can think about another one just because of the differences the two may have. Some of the differences between two ethnic groups can be religion. Not all cultures or ethnic groups pray or believe in the same God in the same way. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) An example of this would be in the United States we have so many different types of religions that can have to do with the way a person dresses for church such as a Baptist church may not have a dress code but if a person was to go to a Catholic church a dress code is put into place. But there are many differences in religion just within the United States.

The two ethnic groups that are going to be discussed in this paper are going to be French Canadians and English Canadians. Many people may think that just because these two groups are considered to be both Canadians that there is not much of a difference between the two and that there wouldn’t be any conflicts or war against each other. The fact of the matter there are many differences between the French and the English Canadians. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010)
Canada is one of the countries that have two languages in which are English as well as French. Canada has about 6.5 million French Canadians who live around Quebec. French Canadians have a bit of a smaller society of people and they can be found in the eastern province of New Brunswick. The culture of French Canada is very much distinctive.
The religion can be quite different from other cultures as well. The French Canadians are the settlers from France. Most of the members of the Roman Catholic Church were the French settlers. Since the early 1970’s the cultural policy of Canada has been called ‘multiculturalism”. There have been many differences between the French and the English Canadians for many years. Since Europeans have arrived, North America had a diverse population. There were many religious differences that were involved in the land of the French and English Canadians which caused some problems between the two ethnic groups which included friction that even today is still going on between the two cultures.
The French and the English were and still are in a small way competing colonizers which they were both trying to say it was ones land and they were at war with each other and peace didn’t look like it was going to come to a closure. The history of this exciting battle was very much a big mess and by the year 1760 there was a division that took place which divided the Acadians and the Canadians. The “English” being heterogeneous and consisting of individuals from the British Isles show immigrants from Ireland, England, Wales, highlands and the Scottish lowlands show a strong sense of their unique cultures in which was brought to Canada.

Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. So this can come into play with the two types of cultures that can get along if they worked out their differences. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) For some cultures if they believe a certain way then they are not going to change their minds about it such as the way of life or even laws of the land. If all cultures and ethnic groups were able to see what their differences are and were able to change a belief or the minds of a whole group of beliefs then maybe at some point there would be a settlement between the two ethnic groups at war with each other.

People in different ethnic groups can get upset and can cause a big fight between two groups because of different beliefs and ways of life. Another way to look at this would be confusion or a misunderstanding of a culture can make a group of people from that ethnic or different ethnic become bitter towards one of a different culture or a culture group. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) In experimental social psychology can provide a lot of different examples and explanations of human conformity. But just as the two ethnic groups such as the French Canadians and the English Canadians there is much to learn about how different the cultures can be but there are many ways of argument and different values each may have that they don’t agree on. When two ethnic groups fight this can caused by motivation by a desire to gain reward or avoid punishment. So we can learn that
There are many countries that when settlers settled on that piece of land there were arguments and wars against two more even more ethnic groups and since history does at times repeat itself there is much that can be done to prevent future wars and outrage between two ethnic groups such as the French and English Canadians.

Social perception is where we as people understand other people. In other words this is where a certain ethnic group can fully understand the differences between the two and find a solution to get along and no longer be at a constant war with one another. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) Social perception is that part of perception that allows us to understand the individuals and groups of our social world. This can be used in the differences between the French Canadians and the English Canadians. (Shiraev & Levy, 2010) The way that this can be used in this type of example is since there was fighting and arguments going on between the French and the English Canadians looking from outside the box and making a solution to the problems that these two ethnic groups were having an action plan could have been put into place with making the differences dilute and so that the two groups could eventually become one group with hardly no war against one another.

The social cognitive theory provides a framework for understanding, predicting, and changing human behavior. The theory identifies human behavior as an interaction of personal factors, behavior, and the environment.

This can mean that the behavior of two or more ethnic groups that are at war can eventually come to an agreement and abolish the war that is going on between the two groups. In the status of the two ethnic groups French Canadians and English Canadians there are many problems that both parties have realized that the problems were because of different reasoning and different opinions and thinking processes between the two. There is a very good history between the two groups which in today’s year can make quite a history book. There are many people that may wonder why the French Canadians did not join the American Revolution. It has been stated that the Americans didn’t do a good job at trying to convince them to join.

Not all countries or ethnic groups are the same and this is why there are so many differences that cannot be settled between two or more ethnic groups. This is one of the reasons why the United States of America has already had two world wars already. There is clearly that we as the United States are going through right now with Osama Bin Laden and the United States killing him. This just shows that the history repeats itself and the use of psychology and cross cultural psychology can come into play to help two cultures resolve their problems with one another.

Referances
Myers, D. G. (2007). Psychology (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers
Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A. (2010). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and contemporary applications (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn Bacon