Peacemaking is especially challenging in situations of intractable conflict. Collective narrative... more Peacemaking is especially challenging in situations of intractable conflict. Collective narratives in this context contribute to coping with challenges societies face, but also fuel conflict continuation. We introduce the Informative Process Model (IPM), proposing that informing individuals about the socio-psychological processes through which conflict-supporting narratives develop, and suggesting that they can change via comparison to similar conflicts resolved peacefully, can facilitate unfreezing and change in attitudes. Study 1 established associations between awareness of conflict costs and conflict-supporting narratives, belief in the possibility of resolving the conflict peacefully and support for pursuing peace among Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. Studies 2 and 3 found that exposure to IPM-based original videos (vs. control) led Israeli-Jews to deliberation of the information presented, predicting acceptance of the IPM-based message, which, in turn, predicted support for neg...
Trust and distrust affect the nature relations on the interpersonal as well as on intragroup and ... more Trust and distrust affect the nature relations on the interpersonal as well as on intragroup and intergroup levels. The chapter explores the functioning of trust and distrust in situations of conflict and especially in the intergroup conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, which is perceived as a prototypical intractable conflict. The functioning is explored by interviewing as Jewish Israeli lay people involved in Israeli–Palestinian intractable conflict. The interviewees were asked about their views of trust and distrust in general and then asked to apply these views to the analysis of Jewish–Palestinian relations. The results showed that the majority of participants are distrustful of Palestinians. This distrust is perceived as predominantly due to the Palestinians violence toward human lives, not recognizing the State of Israel, not complying with accords, and an attitude of hate toward Israeli Jews, actions of the Palestinian leadership and negative attitudes espoused by Israeli Jews toward them. An attitude of trust toward Palestinians was associated with a humanistic view of Palestinians or as resulting from positive actions by the Palestinian people (compliance with accords). The majority of participants believe that Palestinians do not trust Israeli Jews. Palestinian distrust is perceived as stemming mostly from Israel’s harmful actions toward them (the Occupation and physical harm). A variety of conditions that can enable or promote trust in Palestinians was identified, predominantly refraining from hurting Israeli Jews, neutralizing the Hamas administration and fulfilling conditions that can enable negotiations (flexibility in demands, and recognition of the State of Israel). On the other hand, a number of suggestions were made in order to promote greater trust by Palestinians toward Israeli Jews. Many involved refraining from hurting Palestinians, releasing prisoners, ending the Occupation and allowing the founding of a Palestinian State, halting development of settlements, and treating Palestinians more humanely. On the basis of the data received from the interviews we propose a conceptual framework for understanding trust and distrust in situations of intractable conflict. Finally, we present a few ideas regarding the possibility of changing distrust to trust, in order to advance peacemaking processes.
Summary. One hundred and forty‐four 5th grade, 10th grade and college students were presented wit... more Summary. One hundred and forty‐four 5th grade, 10th grade and college students were presented with a questionnaire consisting of three parts. In Part I, the students received a description of eight different hypothetical stories about classmates. In each story, the classmate's ability (high or low), exerted effort (high or low) and outcome (success or failure) were varied. Following each story the students were asked to rate the predicted grade given by a teacher, teacher's appreciation, own appreciation, projected classmate's satisfaction, and own willingness to resemble the classmate. In Parts II and III, the students were asked whether they would like to be perceived as having ability or as exerting effort. The results showed that while students believe that teachers and they themselves show more appreciation of effort exertion than ability, they project feelings of satisfaction and would like to be perceived more as having ability than exerting effort. Also, 5th grad...
Social problems such as intergroup conflicts, prejudice, and discrimination have a significant ef... more Social problems such as intergroup conflicts, prejudice, and discrimination have a significant effect on the world's population. Often, to facilitate constructive solutions to these problems, fundamental attitude change is needed. However, changing the beliefs and attitudes to which people strongly adhere has proven to be difficult, as these individuals resist change. In this article, we offer a new and unconventional approach, termed paradoxical thinking, to promote the change of attitudes relevant to social realities. Paradoxical thinking refers to a process of exposing individuals to amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd messages that are still congruent with their held societal beliefs. In our research program, we focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and found that paradoxical thinking interventions led to attitude moderation among those who were the most adamant in their held attitudes and beliefs, even in the challenging context of a harsh and prolonged intergroup ...
This article focuses primarily on the media’s impact on international security regimes. It explor... more This article focuses primarily on the media’s impact on international security regimes. It explores the ways in which the media affect the lifecycles of international regimes, from the time they are first conceived of, through their establishment, consolidation and stabilization, up until their ultimate demise. Although this paper highlights the media’s role in the evolution of security regimes, it is clear that, regardless of the regime in question, media play a role throughout the lifecycle of all international regimes, whatever their character. In order to analyze the relationships of the media with security regimes in general, and specifically their contribution to each stage in their development, the article utilizes methodologies from the field of communication studies. It examines the media’s agenda, "news values" and various functions, and their ability to mobilize public support for the particular issue of the regime. To date, most studies have explored the intera...
Abstract The chapter introduces a new approach to attitude change, termed paradoxical thinking. I... more Abstract The chapter introduces a new approach to attitude change, termed paradoxical thinking. It suggests that messages that are consistent with an individual's view, but formulated in an amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd manner, lead to an extended process of deliberative thinking and arouse lower levels of resistance compared to conventional persuasive approaches that use attitude-inconsistent messages. We argue that attitude-inconsistent messages are often automatically rejected among highly involved individuals with extreme views. The paradoxical thinking approach is intended to lead individuals to perceive their held societal beliefs or the current situation as farfetched and implausible, and ultimately, to lead to unfreezing and reevaluation of held attitudes. Eventually, unfreezing may lead to openness to alternative, more moderate viewpoints that may then be adopted. We introduce four variables that are part of the process (i.e., threat to identity, surprise, disagreement with the message, and unfreezing) and present empirical evidence supporting this conception with studies conducted mostly vis-a-vis conflict-supporting attitudes in the context of an intractable conflict.
The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking pri... more The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect. That is, it moderates the view of the message's recipients. In the framework of attitudes toward African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel by Israeli Jews, we found that compared to more moderate messages, an extreme, but not too extreme, message was effective in leading to unfreezing for high morally convicted recipients. The very extreme message similarly led to high levels of surprise and identity threat as the extreme message that was found to be effective. However, it was so extreme and absurd that it was rejected automatically. This was manifested in high levels of disagreement compared to all other messages, rendering it less effective compared to the extreme, para...
This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self... more This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self-censorship with regard to the historical narratives of these cases. The cases represent major examples of four types of political violence: (1) colonialism, the French-Algerian relations; (2) dictatorship (including intrastate conflict), the 1936–1939 civil war in Spain and the subsequent Franco regime; (3) genocide, the Turkish-Armenian case; and (4) interstate conflict, the Japan–Korea relationships.
Conflict-resolution interventions based on the paradoxical thinking principles, that is, expressi... more Conflict-resolution interventions based on the paradoxical thinking principles, that is, expressing amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd ideas that are congruent with the held conflict-supporting societal beliefs, have been shown to be an effective avenue of intervention, especially among individuals who are adamant in their views. However, the question as to why these interventions have been effective has remained unanswered. In the present research, we have examined possible underlying psychological mechanisms, focusing on identity threat, surprise, and general disagreement. In a small-scale lab study and a large-scale longitudinal study, we compared paradoxical thinking interventions with traditional interventions based on providing inconsistent information. The paradoxical thinking interventions led rightists to show more unfreezing of held conflict-supporting beliefs and openness to alternative information, whereas the inconsistency-based interventions tended to be more effec...
Peacemaking is especially challenging in situations of intractable conflict. Collective narrative... more Peacemaking is especially challenging in situations of intractable conflict. Collective narratives in this context contribute to coping with challenges societies face, but also fuel conflict continuation. We introduce the Informative Process Model (IPM), proposing that informing individuals about the socio-psychological processes through which conflict-supporting narratives develop, and suggesting that they can change via comparison to similar conflicts resolved peacefully, can facilitate unfreezing and change in attitudes. Study 1 established associations between awareness of conflict costs and conflict-supporting narratives, belief in the possibility of resolving the conflict peacefully and support for pursuing peace among Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. Studies 2 and 3 found that exposure to IPM-based original videos (vs. control) led Israeli-Jews to deliberation of the information presented, predicting acceptance of the IPM-based message, which, in turn, predicted support for neg...
Trust and distrust affect the nature relations on the interpersonal as well as on intragroup and ... more Trust and distrust affect the nature relations on the interpersonal as well as on intragroup and intergroup levels. The chapter explores the functioning of trust and distrust in situations of conflict and especially in the intergroup conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, which is perceived as a prototypical intractable conflict. The functioning is explored by interviewing as Jewish Israeli lay people involved in Israeli–Palestinian intractable conflict. The interviewees were asked about their views of trust and distrust in general and then asked to apply these views to the analysis of Jewish–Palestinian relations. The results showed that the majority of participants are distrustful of Palestinians. This distrust is perceived as predominantly due to the Palestinians violence toward human lives, not recognizing the State of Israel, not complying with accords, and an attitude of hate toward Israeli Jews, actions of the Palestinian leadership and negative attitudes espoused by Israeli Jews toward them. An attitude of trust toward Palestinians was associated with a humanistic view of Palestinians or as resulting from positive actions by the Palestinian people (compliance with accords). The majority of participants believe that Palestinians do not trust Israeli Jews. Palestinian distrust is perceived as stemming mostly from Israel’s harmful actions toward them (the Occupation and physical harm). A variety of conditions that can enable or promote trust in Palestinians was identified, predominantly refraining from hurting Israeli Jews, neutralizing the Hamas administration and fulfilling conditions that can enable negotiations (flexibility in demands, and recognition of the State of Israel). On the other hand, a number of suggestions were made in order to promote greater trust by Palestinians toward Israeli Jews. Many involved refraining from hurting Palestinians, releasing prisoners, ending the Occupation and allowing the founding of a Palestinian State, halting development of settlements, and treating Palestinians more humanely. On the basis of the data received from the interviews we propose a conceptual framework for understanding trust and distrust in situations of intractable conflict. Finally, we present a few ideas regarding the possibility of changing distrust to trust, in order to advance peacemaking processes.
Summary. One hundred and forty‐four 5th grade, 10th grade and college students were presented wit... more Summary. One hundred and forty‐four 5th grade, 10th grade and college students were presented with a questionnaire consisting of three parts. In Part I, the students received a description of eight different hypothetical stories about classmates. In each story, the classmate's ability (high or low), exerted effort (high or low) and outcome (success or failure) were varied. Following each story the students were asked to rate the predicted grade given by a teacher, teacher's appreciation, own appreciation, projected classmate's satisfaction, and own willingness to resemble the classmate. In Parts II and III, the students were asked whether they would like to be perceived as having ability or as exerting effort. The results showed that while students believe that teachers and they themselves show more appreciation of effort exertion than ability, they project feelings of satisfaction and would like to be perceived more as having ability than exerting effort. Also, 5th grad...
Social problems such as intergroup conflicts, prejudice, and discrimination have a significant ef... more Social problems such as intergroup conflicts, prejudice, and discrimination have a significant effect on the world's population. Often, to facilitate constructive solutions to these problems, fundamental attitude change is needed. However, changing the beliefs and attitudes to which people strongly adhere has proven to be difficult, as these individuals resist change. In this article, we offer a new and unconventional approach, termed paradoxical thinking, to promote the change of attitudes relevant to social realities. Paradoxical thinking refers to a process of exposing individuals to amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd messages that are still congruent with their held societal beliefs. In our research program, we focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and found that paradoxical thinking interventions led to attitude moderation among those who were the most adamant in their held attitudes and beliefs, even in the challenging context of a harsh and prolonged intergroup ...
This article focuses primarily on the media’s impact on international security regimes. It explor... more This article focuses primarily on the media’s impact on international security regimes. It explores the ways in which the media affect the lifecycles of international regimes, from the time they are first conceived of, through their establishment, consolidation and stabilization, up until their ultimate demise. Although this paper highlights the media’s role in the evolution of security regimes, it is clear that, regardless of the regime in question, media play a role throughout the lifecycle of all international regimes, whatever their character. In order to analyze the relationships of the media with security regimes in general, and specifically their contribution to each stage in their development, the article utilizes methodologies from the field of communication studies. It examines the media’s agenda, "news values" and various functions, and their ability to mobilize public support for the particular issue of the regime. To date, most studies have explored the intera...
Abstract The chapter introduces a new approach to attitude change, termed paradoxical thinking. I... more Abstract The chapter introduces a new approach to attitude change, termed paradoxical thinking. It suggests that messages that are consistent with an individual's view, but formulated in an amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd manner, lead to an extended process of deliberative thinking and arouse lower levels of resistance compared to conventional persuasive approaches that use attitude-inconsistent messages. We argue that attitude-inconsistent messages are often automatically rejected among highly involved individuals with extreme views. The paradoxical thinking approach is intended to lead individuals to perceive their held societal beliefs or the current situation as farfetched and implausible, and ultimately, to lead to unfreezing and reevaluation of held attitudes. Eventually, unfreezing may lead to openness to alternative, more moderate viewpoints that may then be adopted. We introduce four variables that are part of the process (i.e., threat to identity, surprise, disagreement with the message, and unfreezing) and present empirical evidence supporting this conception with studies conducted mostly vis-a-vis conflict-supporting attitudes in the context of an intractable conflict.
The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking pri... more The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect. That is, it moderates the view of the message's recipients. In the framework of attitudes toward African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel by Israeli Jews, we found that compared to more moderate messages, an extreme, but not too extreme, message was effective in leading to unfreezing for high morally convicted recipients. The very extreme message similarly led to high levels of surprise and identity threat as the extreme message that was found to be effective. However, it was so extreme and absurd that it was rejected automatically. This was manifested in high levels of disagreement compared to all other messages, rendering it less effective compared to the extreme, para...
This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self... more This chapter focuses on four case studies of political violence and examines the practice of self-censorship with regard to the historical narratives of these cases. The cases represent major examples of four types of political violence: (1) colonialism, the French-Algerian relations; (2) dictatorship (including intrastate conflict), the 1936–1939 civil war in Spain and the subsequent Franco regime; (3) genocide, the Turkish-Armenian case; and (4) interstate conflict, the Japan–Korea relationships.
Conflict-resolution interventions based on the paradoxical thinking principles, that is, expressi... more Conflict-resolution interventions based on the paradoxical thinking principles, that is, expressing amplified, exaggerated, or even absurd ideas that are congruent with the held conflict-supporting societal beliefs, have been shown to be an effective avenue of intervention, especially among individuals who are adamant in their views. However, the question as to why these interventions have been effective has remained unanswered. In the present research, we have examined possible underlying psychological mechanisms, focusing on identity threat, surprise, and general disagreement. In a small-scale lab study and a large-scale longitudinal study, we compared paradoxical thinking interventions with traditional interventions based on providing inconsistent information. The paradoxical thinking interventions led rightists to show more unfreezing of held conflict-supporting beliefs and openness to alternative information, whereas the inconsistency-based interventions tended to be more effec...
Uploads
Papers by Daniel Bar-Tal