For over 50 years, the tireless efforts and boundless goodwill of tens of thousands of people have been poured into conflict resolution programs that are aimed at decreasing intergroup hostilities and putting people on a path to peace. However, mounting evidence shows that often these efforts are prone to either fall flat or even backfire. Why do many of these efforts sometimes fail, and how can we do better? Using the lens of cognitive neuroscience, Emile Bruneau, PhD, discusses how and why our brains set our common sense interventions up to fail, how intuitively appealing goals such as empathy and trust can be deeply problematic, and how the tools of experimental psychology and functional neuroimaging (fMRI) can be employed to understand intergroup hostility and promote peace. Series: "Peace exChange -- Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 30273]