Reducing Inter-religious Antipathy in Nigeria Through Media Interventions

• In Event: Experiments in Inter-Group Relations

Abstract

Can fictional dramas portraying the challenges and successes of intergroup contact decrease intergroup antipathy and support for violence? In this paper, we present results from two experiments in Kaduna, Nigeria testing whether media programs featuring a growing friendship between fictional Christian and Muslim characters can reduce inter-religious threat perceptions, dehumanization, and support for violence. Kaduna is a state in northern Nigeria with a long history of inter-religious tension and violence. In the first experiment, with a representative sample of 2100 Christians and Muslims living in Kaduna metropolitan area, we find that a 15-minute radio program developed for this study decreased negative inter-religious stereotypes, blatant dehumanization, perceptions of how threatening the other religion is, and support for inter-religious violence.

We then scaled up the intervention in collaboration with a Nigerian TV station, Arewa24. They incorporated a storyline about a growing friendship between a Christian and a Muslim character into their primetime drama series, Dadin Kowa, which has a viewership of approximately 40 million people. Using an encouragement design, we randomly assigned people into the following three conditions: (1) encouragement to watch Dadin Kowa using an incentivized weekly quiz game over SMS, (2) encouragement to watch a different TV program airing at the same time as Dadin Kowa using an incentivized weekly quiz game over SMS, or (3) treatment as usual. Our paper will also present results from this experiment (completed in December, 2020).

Authors

• Alexandra Scacco, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Rebecca Littman, MIT