"Exclusion and ridicule are especially painful experiences of indignity. Violations of dignity, whether obvious and intended, or subtle and unintentional, are emotional injuries that evoke feelings of shame and anger, defensiveness and withdrawal, and, often, a need to retaliate in some form. Hicks notes that the pain caused by injuries to our dignity is equivalent to physical pain and processed in the same areas of the brain."
"Hicks argues that progress toward a peaceful solution of long-standing conflicts depends on a single core principle. In Hicks' workshops and negotiations, successful conflict resolution begins with a commitment to dignity and fails without it. When discussions and negotiations break down, the emotional undercurrent that has disrupted the reconciliation process is almost always an unacknowledged or unrepaired violation of dignity."
Commitment to dignity underlies successful conflict resolution; efforts fail when dignity violations are unacknowledged or unrepaired. Dignity is violated by ignoring, slighting, exclusion, ridicule, or making people feel inferior or that their lives do not matter. Such violations cause emotional injuries that evoke shame, anger, defensiveness, withdrawal, and often a need to retaliate. The pain from dignity injuries is equivalent to physical pain and is processed in the same brain areas. Constructive dialogue requires sustained efforts to treat others with dignity and respect. Practical programs, grounded in extensive experience and research, teach skills to engage more successfully in politically charged discussions. An encounter between a former IRA soldier and his victim illustrates these dynamics.
Read at Psychology Today
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