海角论坛

November 4, 2013鈥擣rom 鈥渕ean girls鈥� in college to Facebook 鈥渇riends鈥� to enemies in Afghanistan, a new book edited by two Georgetown professors examines how people make friends and enemies and everything in between.

In the two-volume The Psychology of Friendship and Enmity: Relationships in Love, Work, Politics and War (Praeger, 2013), edited by Georgetown professors and , researchers examine situations that arise in international diplomacy, in school, at work, in romances and between races and genders, to name a few.

鈥淭he fascinating feature of friendship and enmity is that it is universal to humans, yet also highly culture- and context-dependent and changing across generations,鈥� said Moghaddam, citing Facebook as an example. 鈥淔riendship on Facebook is normative for teenagers, who are 鈥榥atives鈥� to the new electronic communications systems, but alien to most adults, who are 鈥榠mmigrants鈥� to the new land of electronic communications,鈥� he said.

Ten Georgetown alumni and two current students contributed to the 28 chapters, whose titles range from 鈥溾�楳ean Girls鈥� Go to 海角论坛: Conflicting Storylines of Friendship and Enmity Among Young Adults鈥� to 鈥淔riends and Enemies in the Crime of Sex Trafficking.鈥�

Professor of Psychology penned a chapter on friendships among those living with dementia. Sabat and Professor Kate de Medeiros, from the Miami University of Ohio, found that 鈥渢hat people diagnosed with dementia and living in long-term care residences, are not only capable of having friendships, but also benefit from those relationships,鈥� he explained. Sabat鈥檚 findings contradict the negative portrait of people living with dementia, who are often seen as 鈥溾�榖lissfully unaware鈥� of their surroundings and of how they are treated by others, and even if they are treated badly, they 鈥榳on鈥檛 remember it anyway,鈥欌�� he said.

鈥淧eople diagnosed with dementia are able to, and want to, have positive, mutually respectful, caring social relationships with others even when they are living in long-term care settings,鈥� he continued.

The Psychology of Friendship and Enmity also examines the processes for friendship and enmity amid complex group dynamics. One crucial type of friendship, Moghaddam says, is between individuals who belong to groups that are enemies, such as friendships between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East or Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. 鈥淭hese types of friendships where an individual is reaching out to other individuals across group lines, where there are historical conflicts that need to be healed, are pivotal in ultimately changing the relationships between groups,鈥� he said.

These individuals create friendships and relationships despite group patterns instilled in them since birth. 鈥淧atterns of group and inter-group friendships already exist before our birth, so in a sense we are born into group friendships and enmities, particularly in parts of the world where there is inter-group rivalry and conflict,鈥� Moghaddam said. 鈥淭he child growing up in these conflict zones has to struggle to break out of the patterns of friendship and enmity established by groups, sometimes over decades and even centuries,鈥� he continued.

All of the chapters address the dynamic nature of friendship and enmity. 鈥淗uman relationships, both at the inter-personal and inter-group levels, are continually in flux, never static. [They] involve mixed and complex emotions, 鈥� he explained. 鈥淭his is one reason why it is possible for friendship to slide into enmity and enmity to slide into friendship. Our ultimate concern, however, is to present ways in which individuals, groups, and nations can learn to be friends.鈥�