Values and the association between intergroup relations and out-group attitudes and perceptions

The goal of this study is to analyze the values, out-group attitudes and perceptions of Israeli, Palestinian, American and Swiss students. The Israeli-Palestinian

conflict has been going on for several decades and it is therefore important to understand the values and mutual perceptions of the groups in conflict, as well as of third parties and bystanders. The first major focus of the study is the investigation of value preferences and perceived in-group homogeneity of students living in conflict environments (i.e., Israelis and Palestinians) as well as students living in relatively safe environments (i.e., Americans and Swiss). The second focus of the study lies on the association between intergroup relations and out-group attitudes and perceptions. Preliminary results show that the structural relations between groups do not only affect out-group attitudes, but also influence how accurate and similar other groups are seen to oneself.

Main Project Partners

Prof. Sami Adwan from the Bethlehem University
Prof. David Kenny from the University of Connecticut

Dr. Jenny Kurman from the University of Haifa
Dr. Tal Litvak-Hirsch from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Prof. Sonia Roccas from the Open University of Israel

  

Presentations

Eicher, V. (2010, November). Friend or Foe? The association between intergroup relations and out-group attitudes and perceptions. Presentation at the Séminaires du Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Eicher, V. (2010, July). Contact and national identification as predictors of out-group attitudes in conflict and non-conflict groups. Presentation at the 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, San Francisco, USA.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2009, August). Do I know what's important to you? Accuracy of perception of Israeli and Palestinian students' values. Presentation at the 6th Biennial Conference of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, Honolulu, USA.

Eicher, V., Pratto, F., & Wilhelm, P. (2009, July). Mutual perception of Israeli, Palestinian, and American students. Presentation in the symposium ”How Group position blinds or colors perceptions of other groups” (Co-Chair of the symposium with Felicia Pratto) at the 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Dublin, Ireland.

Eicher, V., Wilhelm, P., & Pratto, F. (2009, May). Values and assumed in-group similarity of students from nations in conflict. Poster at the 21th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, USA.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2008, July). Perception of the potential enemy: How Israeli and Palestinian students see each other’s values. Presentation at the XXIXth International Congress of Psychology, Berlin, Germany.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2008, July). How do Israeli and Palestinian students perceive US-American students? Presentation at the XIXth Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Bremen, Germany.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2007, September). Wie schätzen israelische und palästinensische Studenten wechselseitig ihre Werthaltungen ein? Presentation at the 11th Tagung der Fachgruppe Sozialpsychologie, Freiburg, Germany.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2007, July). Perception of the potential enemy: How Israeli and Palestinian students perceive each other’s values. Poster at the 5th Biennial Conference of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, Groningen, Netherlands.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2006, November). Perception of the other as possible source and alternative for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Presentation at the International Conference on Education for Peace and Democracy, Antalya, Turkey.

Eicher, V., & Wilhelm, P. (2005, May). Cross-cultural perception in a violent conflict situation. Presentation at the 6th Inter-University Graduate Conference: Challenging the Boundaries in the Social Sciences, Cambridge, UK.