Perception of Aggression as a Function of Ethnic Affiliation: Moral Judgment of Violence Among Jews and Arabs in Israel

Abstract

Following previous findings which showed differences between Israeli citizens of Oriental and European descent in regards to moral judgment of aggression, a recent replication studied moral judgment in 358 ordinary Israeli citizens of Oriental (132 Jews and 121 Arabs) and of European (75 Jews) descent. Each participant was individually asked to imagine a series of incidents where a stimulus person inflicted (with little, some, or much intent) physical harm (little, some, or much) on another stimulus person. The participants rated the blameworthiness of the perpetrator's behavior in each of the nine incidents included in the complete bi-factorial design (3 × 3). It was found that Israelis of European descent tended to balance the weight of intent and damage while Israelis of Oriental descent from both ethnic-national backgrounds placed a greater emphasis on the damage that occurred. A psycho-sociological conception of the findings is suggested.