CBT and Interpersonal Conflict

This exploratory study investigates whether Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focused on "System 2" reflective thinking can reduce interpersonal and sexual violence in "honor culture" societies within Kenya. The primary research question is whether training individuals to pause and cognitively reframe "honor threats", such as perceived slights or power imbalances, can override automatic aggressive responses. The project will help explore partnership with Mercy Corps, IPA, and IOM. It involves field interviews and focus groups to adapt existing CBT curricula to local concepts of status and conflict, preparing for a future RCT involving both randomly selected and community-identified "high-risk" participants. Practically, the project aims to lower violence in marginalized, resource-scarce regions where legal enforcement is weak. Conceptually, it bridges gap between psychology, development economics, and studies of conflict in developing countries by testing if honor violence stems from maladaptive cognitive automaticity in addition to resource based explanations provided in existing literature.