Fostering trust and forgiveness through the acknowledgment of others’ past victimization

Abstract

The present work examines the acknowledgment of past ingroup victimization by adversary outgroup leaders as an effective means to promote intergroup trust. More specifically, through an experimental study we demonstrated that Israeli-Jewish participants who were exposed to Palestinian leaders' messages acknowledging the Jews' suffering from anti-Semitic persecutions (past victimization condition) displayed more trust toward outgroup leaders than participants who were exposed to messages acknowledging the Jews' sufferings from the ongoing conflict (present victimization condition) and participants who were exposed to a control message condition. Further, trust mediated the relationship between acknowledgment of past victimization by rivals and forgiveness toward the outgroup as a whole. The implications of these results for restoring fractured intergroup relations are discussed. Keywords: collective memories, acknowledgment of past victimization, anti-Semitic persecutions, trust, forgiveness Non-Technical SummaryBackground Intractable conflicts are conceived as protracted conflicts that are perceived by both parts as unsolvable and of zero-sum nature. Our work proposes a possible avenue for improving relations between groups entrapped in intractable conflicts by considering the Israeli-Palestinian case, the most representative example of these conflicts.

Turning the lens in the study of precarity: On experimental social psychology's acquiescence to the settler‐colonial status quo in historic Palestine

“…The most common subset of outcomes within this primary category were measures relating to the outgroup (24.93% of DVs). These included measures of general bias against the outgroup (Levy et al, 2016 , Study 1); anger towards Palestinian citizens of Israel who criticize Israel (Shuman et al, 2017 , Study 2); empathy (Gubler et al, 2015 , Study 1); trust (Bruneau & Saxe, 2012 , Study 2); humanization (McDonald et al, 2017 , Study 2); perceptions of Palestinian openness to listen to the Israeli side of the conflict (McDonald et al; 2018 , Study 2); common ingroup identity with the outgroup (Levy et al, 2017 , Study 4); compassion (Kahn et al, 2016 , Study 2); cooperation (Goldenberg et al, 2016 ); and willingness to forgive Palestinians who acknowledge past or present Jewish Israeli suffering (Andrighetto et al, 2018 , Study 1).…”

“…The most common subset of outcomes within this primary category were measures relating to the outgroup (24.93% of DVs). These included measures of general bias against the outgroup (Levy et al, 2016 (Goldenberg et al, 2016); and willingness to forgive Palestinians who acknowledge past or present Jewish Israeli suffering (Andrighetto et al, 2018, Study 1). The next most common set of outcomes were measures of affect and attitudes towards the resolution of the conflict (22.26% of DVs).…”

Effects of power asymmetry on the sustained impact of a contact-based intervention on perceptions of relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

“…Indeed, studies show that it serves as a mediator for a variety of affective and behavioural factors involved in reconciliation (Brown & Hewstone, 2005). Specifically, trust was found to mediate the ability to positively interpret outgroup empathy (see Nadler & Liviatan, 2006), receive help from the adversary (Halabi et al, 2018), and acknowledge a rival's victimization (Andrighetto et al, 2017). On the whole, trust was found to be a crucial factor in promoting more positive and constructive intergroup relations (Shnabel & Nadler, 2015).…”

Collective memories and present-day intergroup relations: Introduction to the Special Thematic Section

“…Jonas Rees - Smeekes et al (2017), Martinovic et al (2017) and Andrighetto et al (2017). Borja Martinovic -Kurtiş et al (2017) and Hakim & Adams (2017).…”