Conflict resolutionBelief that others can change could bring peace
Psychologists find that members of groups engaged in conflict are more willing to compromise if they believe people are capable of changing; when researchers presented Israelis and Palestinians with evidence that groups of people are capable of change, the information increased the subjects’ willingness to compromise on key political issues
Stanford researchers presented Israeli Jews and Israeli and West Bank Palestinians with evidence that groups of people are capable of change. The researchers report that the information increased the subjects’ willingness to compromise on key political issues.
Israelis and Palestinians have been at war for nearly a century, so it may be difficult to imagine peace coming to this troubled region. The warring parties often seem unable to picture a world outside the conflict, with disastrous results. A Stanford University release reports that Israelis may believe that Palestinians will always be violent, while Palestinians may believe that Israelis will always be oppressive – with both sides refusing to accept information to the contrary.
“Most conflict resolution strategies require you to bring the two groups together,” the release quotes Stanford psychology Professor Carol Dweck to say. “But just attempting this in an incendiary conflict can cause people to react negatively.”
According to research by a team of Stanford psychologists, simply teaching Israelis and Palestinians that groups of people are generally capable of change — without ever mentioning a specific adversary — can have a markedly positive effect on their willingness to compromise. The paper appeared in last week’s Science , with Dweck and fellow Stanford psychology Professor James Gross as senior authors.
The release notes that Dweck has a history of studying how behaviors are affected by beliefs — in particular, beliefs about capacity for change. Studies from her lab have shown, for instance, that students who believe their intelligence can be developed do better in school than students who believe their intelligence is fixed.
With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dweck emphasizes that a longer-term study still remains to be performed in order to demonstrate that this educational approach “can withstand constant episodes of violence.” The researchers have already repeated the study in Cyprus — another area with a longstanding political conflict — with promising results.
— Read more in Eran Halperin et al., “Promoting the Middle East Peace Process by Changing Beliefs About Group Malleability,” Science 333, no. 6050 (23 September 2011): 1767-69 (DOI: 10.1126/science.1202925)
