Perceptions and Misperceptions: The Middle East and South Africa

Abstract

Abstract Students from South Africa, Israel, and the United States (N = 343) were asked to answer questions (who, what, when, why) about a serious conflict in either the Middle East or South Africa. South Africans were asked about the Middle East, Israelis about South Africa, and United States respondents about one of the two conflicts. In spite of other forces, such as media coverage of the news, acting on public opinion, South African Whites supported Israel more than South African Blacks did; this differential support was mirrored in Israeli respondents' attitudes toward the South African conflict. Many respondents were unaware of the details of distant conflicts. A non-negligible proportion of respondents failed to identify correctly either the participants of the two conflicts or their demands, with knowledge of the South African conflict being generally better. The level of ignorance concerning the two other questions was approximately equal for both conflicts: On the average, less than one half of ...