Instilling Hope for Peace During Intractable Conflicts

Abstract

A set of studies explored the possibility to instill hope for peace in the context of intractable conflicts. The first study examined Jewish-Israelis’ hopes for peace following a message from an out-group communicator. Results show that participants’ hopes increased after viewing a Palestinian conclude that the conflict was solvable. This held true regardless of whether the Palestinian communicator identified as a militant or a peace activist. However, Jewish-Israelis’ hopes for peace were not altered when an article, ostensibly written by conflict experts, concluded that the Palestinian–Israeli conflict was resolvable. In order to explore whether these trends are unique to group members involved in intergroup conflict, we replicated the study on uninvolved third-party participants. The article offers a comparison of belief malleability between those who experience conflict first hand and those who observe it from afar and presents strategies that may instill hope for peace in group members immersed in protracted violent conflicts.