When criticism is ineffective: The case of historical trauma and unsupportive allies

Three studies examined the effect of historical trauma reminders and criticism from international allies on attitudes toward current conflicts. In Study 1, Israeli participants (N = 116) were primed with the Holocaust, and read either that the U.S. President Obama supports Israel's right to def...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of social psychology 2017-04, Vol.47 (3), p.304-319
Main Authors: Hirschberger, Gilad, Lifshin, Uri, Seeman, Stephanie, Ein‐Dor, Tsachi, Pyszczynski, Tom
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggressiveness
Attitudes
collective trauma
common identity
Holocaust
intergroup conflict
intergroup criticism
Palestinian people
past victimization
political ideology
Reminders
siege mentality
Social psychology
Trauma
Violence
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Three studies examined the effect of historical trauma reminders and criticism from international allies on attitudes toward current conflicts. In Study 1, Israeli participants (N = 116) were primed with the Holocaust, and read either that the U.S. President Obama supports Israel's right to defend itself and attack Iran, or that he opposes such action. Then, support for preemptive violence was assessed. Study 2 (N = 133) replicated this design, comparing inclusive and exclusive framings of the Holocaust. Study 3 (N = 478), examined the effect of Holocaust reminders and criticism from the European Union on attitudes toward militant policies against Palestinians. All three studies found that Holocaust primes juxtaposed with international criticism increased support for aggression, especially under exclusive framings of the Holocaust. Study 3, however, found this effect only among left‐wing participants. These findings indicate that when historical trauma is salient, international criticism may be ineffective and may even backfire.
ISSN:0046-2772
1099-0992
DOI:10.1002/ejsp.2253