NCT02122887

Peace-Building Interventions for Israeli and Palestinian Youth

Peace-Building Interventions for Israeli and Palestinian Youth: Effects on Biological and Behavioral Markers of Empathy, Prejudice, and Dialogue

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 101 (actual)
• Sponsor: Bar-Ilan University, Israel · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 15 Years – 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The investigators expect an intervention that focuses on actual dialogue and familiarity with members of the other culture, discussion of empathy, generosity, and kindness, and focus on adaptive and reciprocal modes of conflict resolution will alter both physiological, behavioral, and mental response to the pain of the other, increase empathy, and reduce hostility.

Detailed description

We hypothesized that the intervention will impact perspective taking (PT) on the national conflict, reducing the tendency to view justice only on one's side. Such increase in PT would initiate a chain leading to greater behavioral empathy. Second, we hypothesize that change in oxytocin (OT) levels and empathic behavior (less withdrawal and tension and more synchrony) would be impacted by the intervention and the degree to which it altered youth PT on the conflict. Finally, we suggest a 3-path model charting the multi-dimensional pathways leading to behavioral empathy toward outgroup member. First, individual differences in OT functionality will shape empathy so that youth with higher OT levels at pre-intervention and greater PT will show more empathic dialogue at post-intervention. Second, dispositional cognitive empathy, as tested by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index questioner (IRI), at pre-intervention will predict higher behavioral empathy at T2, both directly and as mediated by reduction in ethnocentric attitudes following the intervention. Finally, we hypothesize that the intervention will influence empathy by initiating a chain that begins with increasing PT, which, in turn, will lead to reduction in tension during interaction with outgroup, and culminating in greater empathy during face-to-face encounters

Conditions

• Healthy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Peace-Building Intervention Process	The eight sessions include (1) presentation of the self to others members (2) getting familiar with the other culture (3) what is a conflict - how do conflicts come about, what are adaptive and non-adaptive modes of resolving conflict (4) getting to know the "Other" - preconceived notions about the other side (5) on dialogue- what is dialogue, can dialogue offer means for conflict resolution, what are the benefits of dialogue to inter-cultural and inter-racial conflicts, (6) empathy, generosity, and kindness (7) wrapping up - hopes for the future at the personal and community levels, practical suggestions (8) goodbye and summary - what have we learned ,"gift giving", summary of process by group leaders.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-03-01
• Primary completion: 2015-11-01
• Completion: 2015-11-01
• First posted: 2014-04-25
• Last updated: 2020-04-03
• Results posted: 2019-08-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Israel