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Research Details
A collective blame hypocrisy intervention enduringly reduces hostility towards Muslims, Nature Human Behavior
Abstract
Hostility towards outgroups contributes to costly intergroup conflict. Here, we test an intervention to reduce hostility towards Muslims, a frequently targeted outgroup. Our ?collective blame hypocrisy? intervention highlights the hypocrisy involved in humans? tendency to collectively blame outgroup but not ingroup members for blameworthy actions of individual group members. Using both within-subject and between-subject comparisons in a pre-registered longitudinal study in Spain, we find that our intervention reduces collective blame of Muslims and downstream anti-Muslim sentiments relative to a matched control condition, and that its effects persist one month and one year later. We replicate the intervention?s benefits in a second study. The intervention?s effects are mediated by reductions in collective blame and moderated by individual differences in Preference for Consistency. Together, these data illustrate that the collective blame hypocrisy intervention enduringly reduces harmful intergroup attitudes associated with conflict escalation, particularly among those who value consistency in themselves and others.
Type
Article
Author(s)
Emile Bruneau, Nour Kteily, Ana Urbiola
Date Published
2020
Citations
Bruneau, Emile, Nour Kteily, and Ana Urbiola. 2020. A collective blame hypocrisy intervention enduringly reduces hostility towards Muslims. Nature Human Behavior.
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