Abstract
The study focuses on perceptions of inter-group relations among Jewish and Arab nursing students in Israel. The study aimed at discovering whether these perceptions were affected by the environment in which they were examined. The results show that environment has an impact on perceptions of inter-group relations. In a natural environment where cooperation between individuals from different social groups is necessary, the relations were perceived as harmonious. On the other hand, in an environment that emphasizes the unique identity of each group, the relations were perceived as conflictual. These findings can be explained as reflecting the one big happy family perceptual bias. This bias may provide a basis for understanding inter-group conflict intervention processes among groups in conflict that operate together. The findings have professional implications for intervention processes implemented among heterogeneous multicultural teams in conflict situations.
Highlights
The present study focused on relations between groups operating in situations of conflict
The study focuses on perceptions of inter-group relations among Jewish and Arab nursing students in Israel
The research assumptions posited that an environment marked by common goals should lead to a good, harmonious perception of relations, while an environment marked by separation and alienation between the groups would lead to perceiving these relations as conflictual
Summary
The present study focused on relations between groups operating in situations of conflict. The research attempts to understand the psychological processes underlying interpersonal relations between individuals working in heterogeneous teams in a natural environment marked by ongoing conflict. Heterogeneous groups operating in a natural environment (Valentine, 2008) must often face challenges associated with team building, determination of group social norms and group cohesion (Allport, 1997; Wagner, Tropp, Finchilescu, & Tredoux, 2009) Studies show that such challenges may affect how the group functions as a whole as well as how its members function as individuals (Mallett, Akimoto, & Oishi, 2016). There is often a sharp division into in-groups and out-groups based on a single group identity (Brewer, 1986), accompanied by attribution of negative stereotypes and behaviors biased in favor of the in-group (Abrams & Hogg, 1990; Tajfel & Turner, 1986)
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