Self-censorship in conflicts: Israel and the 1948 Palestinian exodus.

2017

Self Cite

Self‐censorship of information, defined as an act of intentionally and voluntarily withholding information from others in the absence of formal obstacles, serves as an obstacle to the proper functioning of a democratic society, because it prevents free access to information, freedom of expression, and the flow of information. It is of key importance in societies, as it blocks information that may shed new light on various societal issues. Nevertheless, it is recognized that in certain cases self‐censorship is necessary. The present article provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for self‐censorship and examines it from various angles with empirical examples. It describes its nature and psychological foundations, the motivations that underlie it, the conditions that facilitate its practice, its societal and individual consequences, and, finally, its measurement challenges.

Section: Motivations For Self‐censorshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Censorship as a Socio‐Political‐Psychological Phenomenon: Conception and Research

2017

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“…Moral disengagement (Bandura, ) has been found to help members of a perpetrator group cope with their group's misdeeds by legitimizing the act (Coman, Stone, Castano, & Hirst, ), denying their group's responsibility (Bilali, ), assigning blame to or dehumanizing the victimized group (Castano & Giner‐Sorolla, ), using euphemistic labeling (Gavriely‐Nuri, ), or minimizing negative consequences (Leidner, Castano, Zaiser, & Giner‐Sorolla, ). Other mechanisms include motivated “forgetting” (Rotella & Richeson, ) and social silencing of wrongdoing (Nets‐Zehngut, Pliskin, & Bar‐Tal, ). These mechanisms help group members to maintain collective positive self‐image and reduce unpleasant moral emotions (Lickel, Steele, & Schmader, ; Sullivan, Landau, Branscombe, & Rothschild, ; Wohl & Branscombe, ).…”

Section: Prolonged Occupation: Its Characteristics and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Prolonged Occupation as Barriers to Conflict Resolution

Rosler

Sharvit

2017

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The goal of this research was to examine whether a denial of a prolonged occupation by the occupying society constitutes a meaningful sociopsychological barrier to resolving the conflict peacefully. We hypothesized that this perception will be associated with objections both to conflict resolution processes and to specific compromises intended to end the occupation. Furthermore, we hypothesized that the association between denial of the occupation and compromises will be partially mediated by denial of its costs, low levels of moral emotions, and closure to new information about the conflict. Taking the prolonged Israeli occupation as our case study, we used three nationwide representative polls of Jewish Israelis to test our hypotheses. The studies supported our hypotheses, pointing to the distinct role that the perception of prolonged occupation by the occupying society plays in peacefully ending this situation, and the psychological mechanisms underlying occupation denial as a barrier to conflict resolution.

“…Indeed, research using qualitative methodologies reveals that self‐censorship operates as a societal‐psychological mechanism in the context of intractable conflicts, which is nourished by the conflict‐supporting societal narratives, specifically collective memory, but also takes part in the process of their construction and maintenance (e.g., Ben‐Ze'ev et al, ; Nets‐Zehngut et al, ). For example, Nets‐Zehngut et al () show that Israeli gatekeepers, who worked in formal institutions responsible for the creation and dissemination of the collective memory (the National Information Center, the IDF/army, and the Ministry of Education), practiced self‐censorship regarding the causes of the Palestinian exodus in 1948. They denied that the exodus was at least partially caused by Jewish military forces, even though this was already regarded as an historical fact by some Israeli historians.…”

Section: Intractable Conflict and Conflict‐supporting Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a phenomenon, self-censorship has been observed in families-as secret keeping (e.g., Petronio, 2010)-and it has also been studied in organizations, focusing on whistle-blowers who break the norms of self-censorship within malfunctioning organizations (e.g., Gundlach, Douglas, & Martinko, 2003). Finally, on the societal level, several qualitative studies show that self-censorship is practiced by gatekeepers and ordinary individuals in the mass media or other societal-cultural agencies, such as the army or the Ministry of Education (e.g., Ben-Ze'ev, Ginio, & Winter, 2010;Nets-Zehngut, Pliskin, & Bar-Tal, 2015;Ngok, 2007).…”

Section: Self-censorshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Support for Self‐Censorship Among Israelis as a Barrier to Resolving the Israeli‐Palestinian Conflict

Hameiri

Sharvit

et al. 2016

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Self‐censorship, defined as an “act of intentionally and voluntarily withholding information from others in the absence of formal obstacles” often serves as a barrier to resolving intractable conflicts. Specifically, in order to protect the group, and in absence of objective constraints such as institutionalized censorship, individuals practice self‐censorship and support its practice by other society members. This prevents free flow and transparency of information, within a society, regarding the conflict and the adversary. In an attempt to investigate the factors that contribute to the functioning of self‐censorship as a sociopsychological barrier to conflict resolution, a longitudinal study was conducted among a large sample of Jews in Israel. The survey was administered in three waves: a few months before, during, and a few months after Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. The findings showed that armed confrontation can increase support for self‐censorship. In addition, the findings revealed that personal characteristics (e.g., authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, siege mentality) predicted support for self‐censorship, which, in turn, mediated the effect of personal characteristics on support for negotiations and for providing humanitarian aid. The theoretical as well as the applied implications of the findings are discussed.