ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on the proposition that perceptual processes play a central role in the etiology and expression of destructive intergroup and international conflict. As Bar-Tal and Geva (1986) have pointed out, parties in conflict assert that their beliefs about the conflict (inferences, expectations, attributions) are based in objective reality, while in actuality their information is channeled through perceptual processes influenced by their existing knowledge. Hence, understanding the beliefs, that is, the cognitive world of the parties is essential to understand the dynamics of the conflict.
