Correcting Misinformation as an Antidote against Intergroup Violence

• In Event: Graduate Student Research Lightning Round: Social Movements, Conflict, Coalitions

Abstract

Defueling violent intergroup escalation when it erupts is a major quest for scholars and change agents – as it may prevent casualties and further aggression between warring parties. One categorical predictor of such violence can be found in misinformation about outgrips, as presented in social and traditional media. During May of 2021, Israel experienced an unprecedented outbreak of ethnic violence between its Jewish and Arab citizens, causing fatalities on both sides and hundreds wounded. During these riots, researchers conducted two studies aimed at increasing opposition to intergroup violence. The first study revealed that although the vast majority of each group strongly opposed violence, each group perceived their respective outgroup as significantly more supportive of violence. Moreover, group members' own support for violence was strongly associated with their meta-perception of the outgroups’ support for violence. The second study experimentally examined whether correcting participants' misperceptions of their outgroup support for violence – would decrease participants' own support for intergroup violence. Results show that exposing Jewish and Arab citizens to information presenting outgroup opposition to violence led to significantly stronger opposition to violence against the outgroup – in the midst of a nationwide outbreak of violent attacks. A third study, conducted during a violent intergroup outbreak coined as the "June Terror Wave", have replicated these results, while addressing various limitations of the first two studies. Taken together, the current findings affirm the importance and potency of minimizing intergroup biases and misperceptions of the outgroup via corrective information in reducing intergroup violence and escalation – as it occurs.

Authors

• Nimrod Nir, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Eran Halperin, Interdisciplinary Center