Weapons of peace: Providing alternative means for social change reduces political violence

Abstract

The present research demonstrates how support for political violence can be reduced by providing peaceful alternatives to produce social change. In Study 1, participants watched a video documenting the activities of a violent activist group, and then either watched a video of a peaceful activist group supporting the same cause or a control video. Participants that watched the peaceful activist group reported less support for the violent activist group than participants in the control condition. Study 2 replicated and extended Study 1 by testing the underlying psychological mechanism. In line with goal systems theory, providing participants with a peaceful alternative to produce social change (vs. no alternative) reduced the perceived instrumentality of the violent group to further the ideological cause, leading to lower support for the violent group. Implications for anti‐violence campaigns are discussed.

Minority‐ versus Majority‐Status Group Intentions to Transgress the Law When Oppression Is Perceived

“…On the opposite side, we find evidence that loss or gain of significance does not lead to violence when there are other nonviolent alternatives for the group to consider (Dugas et al, 2016;Schumpe, Bélanger, Giacomantonio, Nisa, & Brizi, 2018). In most cases, significance loss leads to nonviolent forms of action.…”

When countermessaging backfires: The role of obsessive passion in psychological reactance.

“…This indicates that providing an alternative means to attain a goal might produce less reactance because the goal can still be reached through a different vehicle (cf. Schumpe, Bélanger, Giacomantonio, Nisa, & Brizi, 2018; Schumpe, Bélanger, Moyano, & Nisa, 2020). Of note, future research should further examine reactance as a mechanism in the context of persuasion and self-affirmation.…”

Beyond peaceful protest: When non-participants support violence against the police

“…In other words, those protesters who for whatever reason go beyond the pervasive norm that protests must be peaceful might be treated as outsiders (even as criminals) that are not capable of behaving in a civilised way (e.g., "Hong Kong leader Lam condemns 'rioters' after violent clashes", 2019). In line with this, unfortunately, and ignoring the inherent conflict behind the emergence of violence, many scholars have given a negative connotation per se to protest violence even relating it to processes associated with terrorism as extremism and radicalisation (e.g., Jiménez-Moya et al, 2015;Moskalenko & McCauley, 2009;Schumpe et al, 2018;Thomas, McGarty, & Louis, 2014).…”