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Conflict Management in Pluralistic Societies: Aspect of Judgment Analysis. Abstract Interpersonal Conflict in pluralistic societies has been analyzed into¡§Fact Conflict¡¨(mutual interference in beliefs) and¡§Value Conflict¡¨ (mutual interference in preferences ), The interpersonal conflict can be caused by purely cognitive factors, that¡¦s to say, the fact conflict and value conflict can be treated together under the general rubric of¡§Cognitive Conflict¡¨. The growing of locally environmental disputes concerning large scale publicdecision-makings, such as the cases of constructions of Fifth Naphtha Cracking Plant,Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, and Meinung Dam etc., have raised enormous socialcost in recent years. One of the main causes of above mentioned disputes is cognitiveconflict. Among various efforts against problem of cognitive conflict, The Social JudgmentTheory, SJT, and the Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, CCP, have been confirmed to beone of the effective approaches to settle the problem of cognitive conflict. Social Judgment Theory is a descriptive and normative approach to judgment and decision making developed by Kenneth Hammond (1965,1975,1996) on the basis of Lens Model. Social Judgment Theory has been applied to the analysis of multiple cue probability learning, interpersonal conflict, interpersonal learning, and social policy decisions. It has also produced the policy decision aid. Moreover, Social Judgment Theory emphasizes that the¡§Judgment¡¨is generally more effective (reaches a higher achievement level), and more efficient(reaches a given achievement level more quickly) by utilizing of cognitive feedback while making decision. Cognitive Conflict Paradigm is to provide a scenario to uncover information concerning cognitive conflict. It¡¦s an experimental laboratory method that involves two stages: (1)Training stage in which two subjects are trained in such a way that each learns to think differently about a common set of problems, and(2)Conflict stage in which the two subjects are brought together and attempt to arrive at a joint decisions concerning the problems. Through Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, the investigator can observe two persons offering conflicting answers, efforts to cope with differences and arrive at a joint decision, in fact, observe the effect of the experience on their cognitive change and the efforts to solve subsequent problems. In this study, a series of simulated decision making task about Meinung Dam construction and the Social Judgment Theory & Cognitive Conflict Paradigm have been employed and tested by way of a laboratory quasi-experiment. The research fingings of this study include: 1. Dual cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of individual decision quality. 2. Single cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of individual decision quality. 3. Single cognitive feedback is as insignificant as outcome feedback in regard to the improvement of joint decision quality. 4. Dual cognitive feedback is more effective than outcome feedback in regard to the elimination of cognitive conflict. 5. Single cognitive feedback is as insignificant as outcome feedback in regard to the elimination of cognitive conflict. 6. The most constructive result obtained in this study was that we had presented a conceptual framework, research paradigm, and conflict management procedure generated from the application of Social Judgment Theory & Cognitive Conflict Paradigm to analyze and solve the conflict problems in pluralistic societies. These framework, paradigm, and procedure should be useful to subsequent cognitive conflict researchers and practical public decision making. Keywords¡GPluralistic Societies, Judgment Analysis ,Lens Model, Social Judgment Theory, Cognitive Conflict Paradigm, Outcome Feedback, Cognitive Feedback.

In a plural democratic society, the macro phenomena and policies are formed by individual cognition and choices. Thus the field of decision-making and judgment analysis based on individual cognitions has become the major analytical method in the public affairs management. The citizenship view of the republicanism requires citizens to reach consensus. The group decision-making method is so helpful for reaching consensus and overcoming the limits of individual cognition that it¡¦s necessary in forming public policies. By reviewing various group decision-making methods, the study found that there are at least Program Planning Method (PPM; Delbecq & Van de Ven, 1971), Policy Delphi (Turoff, 1970), Interactive Management(IM; Warfield & Cárdenas, 1994), and Social Judgment Theory(SJT; Hammond, 1965, 1996; Hammond et al., 1975, 1977, 1980) can be used to reach consensus in a plural society. Among them, the IM results have been proven effective for solving complicated problems and compliant with citizen participation spirit of a plural society ( Wang Min-shen & Chang Ning, 2002; Warfield & Cárdenas, 1994) . However, the accuracy of IM results can not be proven by the method and the weight between factors can not be identified, either. SJT can be used to analyze the assumption between decision criteria of different hierarchies and obtain the weights between different factors out of the same result so that SJT can examine the annotated graphics of IM. Besides, since SJT emphasizes cognitive feedback, it can facilitate reaching consensus by comparing various stakeholders¡¦ judgment principles dissolving the cognitive conflicts. Thus the study applied theoretical SJT to examine the validity of IM results. I discussed SJT procedure in a collective, hierarchic and large-scaled way. The study also adopted classic experimental design to compare the cognitive changes of participants before and after the SJT procedure to explore the performance of SJT results of group decision-making in public affairs cases in terms of consistency, individual learning effect and satisfaction. The results of this study show that SJT procedure can be operated in a large-scaled way while consensus with high satisfaction will be reached. In addition, the theoretical validity of IM results on psychological cognition provides the reason why participants accepted the results. Talking about the changes of the participants¡¦ cognition through SJT procedure, the participants using SJT have not improved their consistency, while the learning effect changes significantly towards group conclusion. In the subjective evaluations such as satisfaction, learning effect and caring degree, the participants who use SJT are better than those who don¡¦t, but not better than those who use IM procedure. In terms of policy significance, though the covert consistency between the participants who use SJT has not been improved, their overt satisfaction towards the group conclusion is better than those who don¡¦t. It shows that the conflict between participants has not disappeared yet, while they accept the consensus. Therefore, the way to wipe away the conflicts in a plural society is not to build up a single exclusive value, but to design a procedure allowing the stakeholders accept consensus.

The Grade 1-9 curriculum policy has changed the traditional curriculum rationale and curriculum design. The large scale and profound influence of this change can be considered a revolutionary transformation during the educational process in Taiwan. The policy implementation has particularly focused on the elementary school and junior high school teachers, which involves not only the change in teachers¡¦ instructional patterns, but also teachers¡¦ professional roles as well as the transformation of their values. ¡@¡@Ideas of the Grade 1-9 curriculum policy have conveyed certain concepts. However, when the policy is implemented, a lot of details are involved, such as instructional plan, instructional method, action research, which require teachers¡¦ abilities for preparation, accompanying measures related to administration, or even the general public¡¦s and parent¡¦s questions about and support of the policy. All these have caused a lot of difficulties during the process of policy administration. Among them, the key point is whether the elementary school and junior high school teachers can identify themselves with the ideas of the curriculum reform, and dedicate themselves to implement this policy goal, which is closely tied to the substantial outcomes of this policy. Based on the context of this problem, it is worthy of a study on understanding this problem, and even resolving the problem. ¡@¡@An educational philosophy works as a basis to form a policy, and does not happen independently in the system of an educational structure. In turn, it is a response to the social context at that time, and is related to the social value system then. When the policies and ideas are implemented, a critical examination of social habits should not be ignored. In order to emphasize the policy analysis of curriculum reform implementation, if the society is considered the conceptual background of policy analysis, the policy formation can be more correctly and comprehensively understood, and can work as a basis to explain the problems due to the policy administration. ¡@¡@On these grounds, this study is based on the social concepts of the Grade 1-9 curriculum policy, and attempts to investigate the correlation between grassroots teachers¡¦ social values and the reform of the Grade 1-9 curriculum policy. The purpose is to explain the relationship between different teachers¡¦ social values and the policy of the curriculum reform, to understand cognitive differences as well as to test and verify the applicability of the methods to reduce the cognitive differences and resolve the cognitive conflicts. ¡@¡@In terms of the research method, the researcher first has referred to Inglehart¡¦s hierarchy of needs (1990:25) to measure the priority of the value index in the social values, and categories the teachers in the study into two different social value groups: materialism and post-materialism. The quasi-experimental method of the Social Judgment Theory (SJT) is applied to judge and analyze the study. The concept of ¡§V.C.S. Strategic Triangle, ¡¨ is applied to define the three indices, value-capacity-support (V.C.S.), in the Grade 1-9 curriculum policy implementation. The function and application of the lens model in the SJT, thus, are verified. It is hoped to test, verify and explain the different cognitive judgments on the beneficial results of the curriculum reform and V.C.S. policy implementation made by the teachers with different social values (criteria, cues, function form, weights, judgment policy and cognitive feedback). ¡@¡@Among the above-mentioned methods, the cognitive feedback model is especially applied to present the subjects¡¦ internal cognitive judgment on policy reference variables, for the purpose of helping the subjects to judge their level of cognitive change after they directly understand and compare their interpersonal learning with others. The findings are as follows: 1. Teachers with different social backgrounds and conditions have different value orientations. 2. Based on the SJT method, two groups with different social values have different cognitive levels of the curriculum policy reform¡¦s beneficial results. (1) The criteria of the curriculum policy reform¡¦s beneficial results among the subjects with different value orientations are very inconsistent, which indicates the cognitive differences between these two groups. (2) Groups with different social values cause different function form models and weights of the three policy reference variables: ¡§V¡¨ ¡§C¡¨ and ¡§S¡¨. Materialists tend to identify themselves with the variable, ¡§S¡¨ while the post-materialists with the other two variables, ¡§V¡¨ and ¡§C¡¨. (3) The three policy reference variables; namely, ¡§V¡¨ ¡§C¡¨ and ¡§S¡¨ among groups with different social values show lower similarity in the judgment policy. 3. After experiencing the interpersonal learning of cognitive feedback, groups with difference social values will make cognitive changes, which result in the narrowed cognitive differences between these two groups. (1) After the cognitive feedback, the cognitive consistency with the subjects will increase. (2) After the cognitive feedback, the actual value and estimated value of the test results among groups with different social values will have higher agreement. (3) After the cognitive feedback, the three function form, and weights, namely, ¡§V¡¨ ¡§C¡¨ and ¡§S¡¨ among groups with different social values have been adjusted toward the cognitive orientation different from theirs (4) After the cognitive feedback, the three cues, namely, ¡§V¡¨ ¡§C¡¨ and ¡§S¡¨ among groups with different social values show higher similarity in the judgment policy. 4. The results of the questionnaire found that groups with different social values and social attributes (such as social conditions during the growing process, family¡¦s social-economic status, age and educational background) have different levels of identification with the three indices, namely, ¡§V¡¨ ¡§C¡¨ and ¡§S¡¨ Materialists tend to identify themselves with the variable, ¡§support,¡¨ while post-materialists with the other two variables, ¡§V¡¨ and ¡§C¡¨. The research results are identical with the research results of the SJT.