How conflict begets conflict: Activation of the ethos of conflict in times of distress in a society involved in an intractable conflict

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 55 (2014) 252–261

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How conflict begets conflict: Activation of the ethos of conflict in times of distress in a society involved in an intractable conflict Keren Sharvit ⁎ Department of Psychology and Program for Peace and Conflict Management Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

H I G H L I G H T S • • • • •

The Ethos of Conflict (EOC) is a system of beliefs characterizing societies involved in intractable conflicts. The EOC may assist coping with distress and therefore be activated by distress. Two studies with Israelis, who are in a conflict with Palestinians, found EOC activation under distress. In third study, distress facilitated processing of EOC-consistent information and hindered processing of EOC-contradicting information. EOC may play a role in coping, but its association to distress may pose barriers to conflict resolution.

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Article history: Received 10 September 2013 Revised 15 May 2014 Available online 7 August 2014 Keywords: Intractable conflict Ethos Distress Coping Ideology

a b s t r a c t The research addressed the possible association between distress and the Ethos of Conflict (EOC), a system of shared beliefs that characterizes societies involved in intractable conflicts. It is argued that the EOC may assist processes of coping with distress and therefore will be activated in times of distress. Three studies were conducted with samples of Israeli Jews, who are involved in an intractable conflict with the Palestinians. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that conditions of high (vs. low) distress, either related or unrelated to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, increased EOC activation but not self-reported EOC adherence. Study 2 demonstrated that the activation of the EOC under distress facilitated processing of EOC-consistent information and hindered processing of EOCcontradicting information. The findings are consistent with the notion that the EOC may play a role in coping with distress, but this association may pose a barrier to peaceful conflict resolution. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Conflicts among societies and nations often involve violence, suffering and destruction, and cause great concern for individuals and groups worldwide. Of special concern are intractable conflicts, which are violent and protracted, demand extensive investment, play a central role in the lives of the involved societies, and are perceived by them as total, irresolvable and having zero-sum nature (Bar-Tal, 2007b; Kriesberg, 1993). Societies that are involved in such have to function for extended periods under conditions of intense violence, danger and resource austerity. These can give rise to experiences of threat, anxiety and distress (Canetti et al., 2010; Canetti-Nisim, Halperin, Sharvit, & Hobfoll, 2009; de Jong et al., 2001). It has been suggested that members of these societies develop a shared psychological infrastructure that allows them to cope and adapt to the difficult conditions of the conflict (Bar-Tal, 2007b, 2013). The present research focuses on one element of this psychological infrastructure, namely a system of shared beliefs termed the ethos of conflict (EOC). It will be suggested that the EOC ⁎ Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba-Hushi Ave., Haifa 3498838, Israel. E-mail address: [email protected].

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.07.017 0022-1031/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.

develops in a certain way partly because it can contribute to coping with situations of distress resulting from the conflict. Consequently, situations of distress will activate the EOC among members of societies involved in intractable conflicts. The ethos of conflict A societal ethos is a system of shared societal beliefs, which define a given society's central characteristics and give meaning to its members' social identity (Bar-Tal, 2000). An EOC is an organized worldview or ideology, which allows society members to comprehend the context of conflict in which they live and guides their behaviors within this context (Bar-Tal, Sharvit, Halperin, & Zafran, 2012). The societal beliefs that comprise the EOC are organized around eight themes (Bar-Tal, 1998, 2007b). Beliefs about the justness of the ingroup's goals indicate the goals over which the conflict is fought and their crucial importance. Beliefs about security refer to the importance of maintaining security and the conditions needed to achieve it. Beliefs about positive collective self-image attribute positive characteristics, values, and behaviors to the ingroup. Beliefs about ingroup victimization

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present the ingroup as the victim of unjust harm by the adversary. Beliefs that delegitimize the opponents deny their humanity and exclude them from those worthy of moral treatment. Beliefs about patriotism encourage loyalty, love, and sacrifice for the ingroup. Beliefs about unity refer to the importance of remaining united in the face of external threats. Finally, beliefs about peace refer to peace as the ultimate goal of the society, and to society members as peace loving. Despite the different contents of the various themes, research has shown that they all load on a single underlying factor within a society involved in an intractable conflict (Bar-Tal et al., 2012). The EOC is distinguishable from other ideological belief systems by its dominant role in societies involved in intractable conflicts. These societies devote great efforts to imparting the EOC to their members. The EOC dominates their societal discourse and appears frequently in channels of communication and socialization (Bar-Tal, 2013). Consequently, most society members are exposed to the EOC extensively from early childhood and throughout their lives, becoming highly familiar with it regardless of individual differences that may exist in the degree of adherence to the EOC. The EOC and coping with distress There are several reasons to believe that the EOC would be related to processes of coping with distress in the context of intractable conflict. Scholars that examined processes of coping with adverse traumatic events pointed out the importance of finding meaning in the coping process (Antonovsky, 1987; Frankl, 1978; Horowitz, 1986; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Kobasa, 1985; Moos & Schaefer, 1986; Taylor, 1983). One common definition of "finding meaning" is an ability to make sense of the situation within the existing worldview (see Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Larson, 1998). Moreover, some scholars have addressed specific worldview contents that are particularly important for coping. These include understanding the logic and order of the stressful events, a sense of control over the stressful situation, positive self-perception, acceptance of the possibility of victimization, and seeing the difficult conditions as challenges (Antonovsky, 1987; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Kobasa, 1985; Taylor, 1983). The EOC constitutes an accessible worldview, within which members of societies involved in intractable conflicts can find meaning and make sense of situations of distress resulting from the conflict. Furthermore, with its emphasis on maintaining security, positive ingroup image, ingroup victimization and justification for group goals, the EOC provides the worldview contents that are especially useful for coping. Relating the concept of ideology to coping with distress, System Justification Theory proposes that the adoption of system-justifying ideologies, which support the social status-quo, can help individuals cope with unpleasant realities that appear to be inevitable (Jost & Hunyady, 2003). Such ideologies can prevent distress by allowing individuals to feel that the social context is stable, understandable, predictable and just. In addition, system-justifying ideologies can serve as a coping resource by fostering a sense of control and hope. Finally, these ideologies can be seen as a coping activity or response. In situations of intractable conflict, the conflict constitutes the status-quo and the EOC provides justifications for the group's goals in the conflict and reasons for its continuation. Hence, the EOC can be seen as a system-justifying ideology. Thus, System Justification Theory supports the notion that the EOC can play a role in processes of coping with distress in intractable conflict. An association between the EOC and distress is also predicted by Terror Management Theory (Greenberg & Arndt, 2011; Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997; Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). TMT proposes that a cultural worldview can serve as a buffer against anxiety resulting from awareness of the inevitability of death. This leads to the prediction, supported by numerous studies, that reminders of one's mortality would instigate attempts to support and defend the cultural worldview (see reviews in Burke, Martens, & Faucher, 2010; Greenberg et al., 1997). Many distressful events that occur in the context of intractable conflict involve death and mortality salience. The

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EOC may be seen as an instance of a societal worldview as defined by TMT. Thus, TMT would predict that the exposure to deadly events associated with intractable conflict will increase support for the EOC as a buffer against distress. A recent study (Lavi, Canetti, Sharvit, Bar-Tal, & Hobfoll, 2014) supports the role of the EOC as a resource in coping with exposure to violence. Among Israelis and Palestinians who reported low adherence to the EOC, a positive relationship was observed between suffering financial damage due to the conflict and experiencing depressive symptoms. Among those reporting high EOC adherence, no such relationship was observed. However, the study was cross-sectional and correlational, and thus was only able to show that pre-existing EOC adherence can function as a protective factor against distress caused by the conflict, but was not able to establish causal relationships between distress and the EOC. The present research The present research proposes that because of the relevance of the EOC to processes of coping with distress, distress resulting from intractable conflict would activate the EOC among members of societies involved in such conflicts. Note that this hypothesis does not suggest that individuals actively attempt to cope with distress by supporting the EOC, nor are they necessarily aware of the EOC being activated in times of distress. The argument here is that the EOC originally develops in a certain way partly due to its potential to assist coping with distress, but once it is in place, society members need not necessarily be aware of its function. Nevertheless, during the socialization process through which they acquire the EOC, society members may also learn to associate it with distress resulting from the conflict. Although individual society members differ in their levels of adherence to the EOC (Bar-Tal et al., 2012), its predominance in the social discourse and early socialization suggests that the EOC may be present in the knowledge base of most society members. Indeed, extensive research on implicit social cognition suggests that beliefs and attitudes, especially those acquired at an early age and constantly activated throughout life, may remain in individuals' knowledge base and be activated by relevant stimuli, even if new knowledge that invalidates them has been acquired (Devine, 1989; Dovidio, Kawakami, & Beach, 2001; Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006; Petty, Tormala, Briñol, & Jarvis, 2006; Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000). Accordingly, it is predicted that conditions of distress will activate the EOC among members of societies involved in intractable conflict regardless of individual differences in reported adherence to the EOC. The research presented here was conducted in the context of the Israeli-Jewish society, which has been involved in an intractable conflict with the Palestinians for many years and has developed a characteristic EOC (Bar-Tal, 2007a; Bar-Tal et al., 2012). Although the Israeli-Jewish EOC has gone through some changes over the years, its central themes have remained dominant in the societal discourse through most of the conflict period. Three studies were designed to test the implications of the association between distress and the EOC among Israeli Jews. Studies 1a and 1b sought to demonstrate that conditions of distress activate the EOC. Study 3 investigated the consequences of EOC activation in situations of distress for information processing. Studies 1a and 1b Studies 1a and 1b aimed to establish a causal relationship between distress and EOC activation. A major challenge in designing the experimental manipulation was the possibility that any conflict-related event or information could serve as a prime of the conflict and activate the EOC. Moreover, descriptions of conflict-related distressing situations may include information that is consistent with the EOC. For example, a terror attack by Palestinians against Israelis would likely create distress for most Israeli Jews. At the same time, such an event

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portrays the Jews as victims and the Palestinians as aggressors, consistent with the EOC. In order to rule out the possibility that a distresscausing conflict-related event would activate the EOC for reasons other than distress, a control group was needed, in which the participants would be exposed to the exact same event and information as the high distress group, but would experience lower levels of distress. One means of achieving different levels of distress in response to an identical event is by varying the medium of presentation. A common method of inducing intense negative emotions is by using films or video segments (e.g., Gross & Levenson, 1995; Hubert & de Jong-Meyer, 1990; Jansen & Frijda, 1994; Philippot, 1993). Pictorial representations of objects are associated with lesser psychological distance than verbal representations (Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009). Accordingly, studies have found that pictorial or motion-picture representations induced greater emotional arousal than presentations of the same contents through different media (Detenber & Reeves, 1996; Detenber, Simons, & Bennett, 1998; Iyer & Oldmeadow, 2006). Hence, the present research used video versus text presentations of identical events to induce different levels of distress. Additionally, in order to demonstrate that the effect of distress on EOC activation is independent from the effect of being reminded of the conflict and/or conflict-related violence, the studies also included control conditions that involved exposure to distress-causing events unrelated to the conflict. It was hypothesized that exposure to conflict-related events under high distress would increase the activation of the EOC compared to conditions of lower distress. The studies also tested the effect of conflict-related distress on selfreported adherence to the EOC. However, it was assumed that the EOC activation under distress stems from a learned association rather than belief change in response to momentary distress. Hence, the studies posed no a-priori hypotheses regarding the effect of distress on selfreported EOC adherence. Finally, Study 1a also aimed to rule out the possibility that EOC activation under distress reflects a more general tendency, which is not unique to the context of intractable conflict, to uphold a positive group identity in times of threat (Castano & Dechesne, 2005; Ellemers, Spears, & Doosje, 2002; Hogg, 2000; Moskalenko, McCauley, & Rozin, 2006). Previous research indicates that adherence to the EOC is related to, but distinct from, upholding a positive ingroup identity (Bar-Tal et al., 2012). Hence, Study 1a included a measure of positive group identification, but no effect of the distress manipulation on this measure was expected. Study 1a Participants Eighty four Jewish Israeli students (64 women, 20 men; Mage = 23.35, SDage = 2.49) from the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University (TAU) participated for partial course credit. Materials Manipulating distress and its relationship to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conflict-related distress eliciting event chosen for the study was a terror attack by Palestinians on a bus in an Israeli city, which is, unfortunately, a fairly common threat that Israelis have had to face. Participants in the high distress condition were shown a video segment of the attack and told that it was a television news story, and those in the low distress condition were given a factual text describing the attack presented as a newspaper story. In the experimental conditions involving a distressinducing event unrelated to the conflict, participants were exposed either to a video version (high distress) or a text version (low distress) of a news story about a traffic accident. Many of the details of the terror and accident scenarios were kept similar (e.g., involvement of a bus of school children, identical numbers of deaths and injuries). The video versions of the stories were 2:46–2:48 min long and included footage of the incident accompanied by narration and interviews

with eyewitnesses. The text version of each story was identical to the narration that accompanied the respective video, with an identical number of words in all versions. In order to test whether the video segments were successful in inducing more distress than the texts, a pretest was conducted with a separate sample of 84 Jewish Israeli students from TAU (64 women, 20 men; Mage = 23.42, SDage = 3.22), who were randomly assigned to five groups. The first four groups were exposed to one version (text or video) of either the terror or the accident story. The fifth group, intended to serve as a baseline, was exposed to a neutral video describing the discovery of a stalactite cave, which was not expected to elicit distress. This group did not differ significantly from the group exposed to the text version of the traffic accident on any of the dependent measures and is not considered further.1 The pretest indicated that participants exposed to the video segments reported higher levels of state anxiety (M = 45.18, SD = 10.35), negative emotions (M = 1.93, SD = 0.56) and perceived threat (M = 3.26, SD = 1.68) than participants exposed to the text versions (state anxiety: M = 39.84, SD = 11.80; negative emotions: M = 1.61, SD = 0.67; perceived threat: M = 2.18, SD = 1.38; all Fs N 4, all ps b .05). In addition, the terror stories (either video or text) elicited higher levels of state anxiety (M = 45.18, SD = 12.27) and perceived threat (M = 3.21, SD = 1.70) than the accident stories (anxiety: M = 39.84, SD = 9.79; threat: M = 2.18, SD = 1.38, both Fs N 4, both ps b .05). Accordingly, any differences between the terror and accident stories should be interpreted with caution, because the variable confounds story contents and distress level. Hence, all subsequent discussion of the effects of distress on EOC activation will focus on the differences between the high-distress (video) and low-distress (text) conditions within each content domain. The pretest revealed no interactions between story contents and medium of presentation on any measure. Manipulation check. To affirm the effect of the manipulation on distress level, participants indicated on a 9-point scale (1 = not at all, 9 = very much) the extent to which the story that they viewed/read made them feel threatened and stressed (α = .83). EOC activation. EOC activation was assessed using a projective sentence completion measure. Projective measures may be used to assess earlyacquired associations that are not necessarily consistent with individuals' self-reported beliefs (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Wilson et al., 2000). Sentence completion tasks are relatively structured, making it is possible to construct standardized scoring methods and obtain high reliability and validity (Haak, 1990; Lah, 1989; Sherry, Dahlen, & Holaday, 2004). The measure in the present study consisted of 15 sentence stems referring to Israel, Jews and Arabs (e.g., “In the State of Israel…”, “The Jewish people always…”, “When s/he saw the Arab…"). None of the sentence stems referred explicitly to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Content-relevant sentence stems were mixed with 15 irrelevant filler stems. The content-relevant stems were selected from a longer list of 35 stems presented to a pretest sample of 19 TAU students. The chosen stems were those that yielded the highest frequency of responses that expressed the EOC or contradicted it. In a second preliminary study, 170 Jewish Israeli students (99 women, 71 men; Mage = 24.4, SDage = 5.17) responded to the 15-stem measure. The responses were scored by three judges, yielding high inter-rater reliabilities between .90 and .93.

1 Subsequent studies reported here also included a similar baseline group. In none of the cases did this group differ significantly from the group that was exposed to the text version of the traffic accident story. Hence, the results of the baseline group are not reported for the sake of simplicity.

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In the present study, the sentence completion measure was scored by two judges, blind to the experimental conditions. Judges scored each completed sentence + 1 if it was consistent with the EOC, −1 if it contradicted the EOC, and 0 if it was neither consistent with nor contradicted the EOC. The correlation between the judges' scores was .91. The judges' scores were averaged to yield a final EOC activation score. Self-reported EOC adherence We used a self-report measure comprised of 16 statements (α = .80), half of which reflect the EOC and half contradict it. The scale was developed by Bar-Tal et al. (2012), who found that all the items loaded on a single factor. Participants rated their agreement with each statement on a 5-point scale (1 = absolutely disagree, 5 = absolutely agree). Positive group identification. Participants responded on a 9-point scale (1 = not at all, 9 = very much) to two items (α = .90) assessing their identification and positive evaluation of their national group: (a) How important to you is belonging to your national group? and (b) How proud are you of your national group? Procedure Participants arrived in the laboratory and were randomly assigned to view or read the terror or accident story, presented on a computer screen by video or text. Participants then filled out the manipulation check. Next, they were handed the sentence completion task and told that they had eight minutes to complete it. While filling out the task, a large countdown timer on the screen displayed the remaining time. Finally, the participants completed the self-report EOC adherence and group identification measures.

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High Distress Low Distress

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Terror Story

Accident Story

Fig. 1. EOC activation scores in Study 1a by distress level and story content.

story (M = 2.47, SD = 0.48), F(1,80) = 4.43, p = .041, η2p = .051. The interaction was not significant, F(1,80) = 2.50, p N .10, η2p = .030.

Positive group identification There was no significant effect of distress, F(1,80) = 2.03, p N .10, η 2p = .025, or story content, F(1,80) = 2.86, p N .09, η2p = .035, on positive group identification. The interaction was also not significant, F(1,80) = 3.24, p N .07, η2p = .039. The correlation between positive identification and EOC activation was .39 (p b .001), indicating that although correlated the two variables are distinct from each other.

Discussion Results Differences between the experimental groups on all the dependent measures were tested using a 2 × 2 ANOVA with distress level (high vs. low) and story content (terror vs. accident) as the independent variables. Manipulation check Consistent with expectations, participants in the high distress condition, who viewed the video segments, reported higher levels of distress (M = 3.68, SD = 1.81) than participants in the low distress condition, who read the corresponding texts (M = 2.88, SD = 1.50), F(1,80) = 4.77, p = .032, η2p = .056. In keeping with the pretest, participants exposed to the terror story reported greater distress (M = 3.67, SD = 1.81) than those exposed to the accident story (M = 2.89, SD = 1.50), F(1,80) = 5.07, p = .027, η2p = .060. The interaction was not significant, F(1,80) = 1.23, p N .10, η2p = .015. EOC activation In keeping with the main hypothesis, participants in the high distress condition received higher EOC activation scores on the sentence completion task (M = 5.43, SD = 4.40) than participants in the low distress condition (M = 3.37, SD = 4.35), F(1,80) = 4.75, p = .032, η2p = .056. There was also a marginally significant effect of story content, F(1,80) = 3.43, p = .068, η2p = .041, with participants exposed to the terror story scoring somewhat higher (M = 5.27, SD = 5.01) than those exposed to the accident story (M = 3.52, SD = 3.69). The interaction was not significant (F b 1). See Fig. 1. Self-reported EOC adherence There was no significant effect of distress on self-reported EOC adherence (F b 1). However, a significant effect of story content emerged, with participants exposed to the terror story reporting higher EOC adherence (M = 2.68, SD = 0.47) than those exposed to the accident

Study 1a provided preliminary support for the hypothesis that high distress would increase EOC activation among members of a society involved in an intractable conflict. Because participants in the high and low distress conditions within a given content domain received identical information, it is unlikely that factors other than distress level contributed to EOC activation. Although EOC activation was highest in the conflict-related distress condition, as predicted, the findings show that this result reflects the combined main effects of distress level and story content (marginally significant). The main effect of distress level indicates that the EOC can be activated even by distress that is unrelated to the conflict. This effect was not predicted, and possible explanations for it are discussed after the presentation of Study 1b. Study 1a revealed no effect of distress level or story content on positive group identification. This indicates that the activation of the EOC under distress is a distinct process from upholding a positive group identity under threat, which has been observed in past research (Ellemers et al., 2002; Hogg, 2000; Moskalenko et al., 2006). This is consistent with the findings of Bar-Tal et al. (2012) that EOC adherence and upholding a positive group identity are correlated but distinct. It has been suggested that positive group identification reflects an individual's evaluation of and attachment to the group, while the EOC reflects the perceived essence of the group and meaning of collective identity (David & Bar-Tal, 2009). It is worth noting that in actual conflictrelated threatening situations, activation of the EOC and upholding of a positive group identity may occur simultaneously. Nevertheless, the controlled laboratory conditions of the present study made it possible to demonstrate that they are distinct processes. A notable limitation of Study 1a is the fact that the EOC activation scores depended on the subjective evaluations of the judges. Although high inter-rater reliabilities were obtained, replication of the findings with a more objective measure would strengthen the conclusions. Accordingly, Study 1b sought to replicate Study 1a with a measure that did not rely on subjective ratings.

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Study 1b Study 1b was similar to Study 1a except for the use of a different measure to assess EOC activation and exclusion of the measure of positive group identification. The study utilized a procedure that forced the participants to produce EOC-consistent responses in some trials and EOC-contradicting responses in others, while assessing their response times (RT). Response latencies are considered indicative of the activation of constructs from memory (Fazio & Olson, 2003; Greenwald et al., 2002). An underlying assumption of RT-based implicit measures of constructs such as attitudes, self-esteem, stereotypes and prejudice is that if a given construct is activated, then responses that are consistent with it should be easier, and therefore faster, than inconsistent responses (e.g., Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998; Greenwald et al., 2002). Accordingly, one may hypothesize that if distress activates the EOC, then EOCconsistent responses should be faster and EOC-contradicting responses slower under conditions of high (versus low) distress. Method Participants Sixty four Jewish Israeli students from TAU (37 women, 27 men; Mage = 24.25, SDage = 2.14) participated in the study in exchange for payment. Materials and procedure The study was identical to Study 1a except for the measure of EOC activation. The measure utilized eight of the sentence stems from the sentence completion task used in Study 1a. Two recurrent completions for each stem were selected out of responses collected in the preliminary study described earlier: one completion created an EOC-consistent sentence, and one created an EOC-contradicting sentence. For example, if the stem is "The Jewish people are always…" then adding the word "persecuted" creates a sentence that is consistent with the ingroup victimization theme of the EOC, whereas adding the word "condescending" creates a sentence that contradicts the positive collective self-image theme of the EOC. Only completions that included one word were selected, and EOC-consistent completions were matched to EOC-contradicting ones for length and frequency in the Hebrew language (see Frost & Plaut, 2001). It was possible to find recurring single-word completions that met all the criteria only for some of the stems from the original task. Hence, the final measure included nine EOC -consistent and nine EOCcontradicting sentences. Next, each one-word completion was paired with a Hebrew word of identical length and similar frequency in the language, which could not complete the stem into a sentence that made sense. Twenty six judges fluent in Hebrew evaluated these additional words, to ensure that they could not serve as reasonable completions of the sentences. The reaction time task was administered using SuperLab Pro software version 2.0.4 by Cedrus Corporation. In each trial, the participants were shown one of the sentence stems with a pair of words appearing below it: one word was a sentence completion selected from the preliminary study (either EOC-consistent or EOC-contradicting), and the other was a word that could not complete the sentence. The words appeared in one row, one right of the center of the screen and one to the left. Participants were instructed to select the word that could complete the sentence regardless of their agreement with the contents. They were told to press the "I" key if the correct word appeared on the right or the "E" key if it appeared on the left. In this way, they were forced to produce EOC-consistent responses in half of the trials and EOC-contradicting responses in the others. The instructions indicated that participants were to respond as quickly as possible while avoiding mistakes. Each sentence appeared in four trials: twice with the correct response on the right, and twice with the correct response on the left.

The entire procedure included 72 trials, half of which required an EOC-consistent response and half an EOC-contradicting response. The sentences were presented in random order, and the software recorded the reaction time (RT) on each trial. Results Manipulation check Consistent with previous results, participants in the high distress condition reported higher levels of distress (M = 3.08, SD = 1.80) than participants in the low distress condition (M = 1.75, SD = 0.84), F(1,60) = 14.36, p b .001, η2p = .193. There was no significant effect of story content (F b 1) nor a significant interaction, F(1,60) = 1.24, p N .10, η2p = .020. EOC activation The overall error rate on the RT task was low. The incorrect response was selected in only 0.7% of the trials, and the highest error rate for any participant was 4.2%. There were no significant effects of the independent variables on error rates. Trials with an erroneous response were excluded from further analyses, as were trials in which the RT was three standard deviations above or below the participant's mean RT. No more than four trials per participant were excluded. The remaining response latencies were log transformed to reduce the effect of outliers and entered into a 3-way mixed ANOVA with distress level and story content as between-subject factors and response type (EOC-consistent vs. ethos-contradicting) as a within-subject factor. The mean RTs (converted back to milliseconds) are shown in Table 1. The analysis revealed a significant main effect for response type, F(1,60) = 21.70, p b .001, η2p = .266, indicating that responses on EOC-consistent trials were generally faster (M = 1585.60 ms, SD = 311.11) than responses on EOC contradicting trials (M = 1631.67 ms, SD = 320.31). Two significant two-way interactions qualified this effect. First, the response type × distress level interaction was significant, F(1,60) = 4.38, p = .041, η2p = .068. Consistent with the hypothesis, post-hoc comparisons using the Bonferroni adjustment (α = .05) showed that in the high distress condition responses on EOCconsistent trials (M = 1582.57 ms, SD = 314.81) were faster than responses on EOC-contradicting trials (M = 1651.51 ms, SD = 342.22), p b .001, η2p = .275. In the low distress condition, there was no significant difference between EOC-consistent (M = 1588.64 ms, SD = 312.37) and EOC-contradicting trials (M = 1611.83 ms, SD = 300.96), p = .075, η2p = .052. The response type × story content interaction was significant as well, F(1,60) = 4.24, p = .041. Post-hoc comparisons showed that in the terror condition, responses on EOC-consistent trials (M =1550.49 ms, SD = 306.52) were faster than responses to EOC-contradicting trials (M = 1614.40 ms, SD = 314.30), p b .001, η2p = .273. In the accident condition, there was no significant difference between EOC-consistent (M = 1620.71 ms, SD = 316.55) and EOCcontradicting trials (M = 1648.93 ms, SD = 330.31), p = .071, η2p = .053. None of the other main effects and interactions was significant (all Fs b 2, all ps N .10). Table 1 Reactions times (milliseconds) on EOC-consistent and EOC-contradicting trials in Study 1b by distress level and story content. Terror story

EOC-consistent trials Ethos-contradicting trials

Accident story

High distress

Low distress

High distress

Low distress

1592.09 (357.24) 1690.47 (373.63)

1508.9 (250.70) 1538.34 (228.49)

1573.04 (277.49) 1612.55 (314.95)

1668.39 (353.89) 1685.32 (351.38)

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Self-reported EOC adherence There was no significant effect of either distress level or story content on self-reported adherence to the EOC, nor was the interaction significant (all Fs b 1). Discussion Study 1b lends additional support to the main hypothesis that conditions of distress would increase the activation of the EOC. The findings of Studies 1a and 1b are consistent with recent findings showing that among both Israelis and Palestinians, direct personal exposure to conflict-related violence predicted increased distress, which, in turn, predicted increased EOC adherence (Canetti, Bar-Tal, Guy, Lavi, & Elad-Strenger, 2013). They are also consistent with previous studies conducted in Israel, which found that exposure to conflict-related violence was associated with greater support for political violence (Hobfoll, Canetti-Nisim, & Johnson, 2006), decreased tolerance toward minorities (CanettiNisim et al., 2009), and lower support for conciliatory measures (Shamai & Kimhi, 2006; Solomon & Lavi, 2005). However, all of these previous studies were correlational, whereas the present study was experimental, allowing a conclusive inference of a causality. More generally, the present findings are consistent with the previously observed shift toward right-wing political ideologies in response to threatening events (Bonanno & Jost, 2006; Echebarria-Echabe & Fernandez-Guede, 2007; Jost, Fitzsimons, & Kay, 2004; Landau et al., 2004; Thórisdóttir & Jost, 2011). However, some of the studies that demonstrated this effect used correlational or quasi-experimental designs using real-world violent events (Bonanno & Jost, 2006; Echebarria-Echabe & Fernandez-Guede, 2007), while others used experimental designs with very subtle manipulations of threat (Jost et al., 2004; Thórisdóttir & Jost, 2011). One exception is the study by Landau et al. (2004), which found an effect of reminders of terrorism on American participants' support for a sitting conservative president (G.W. Bush), but not on their political orientation as conservative or liberal. Importantly, unlike the present study, none of the previous studies attempted to distinguish the effect of the distress caused by the threatening events from the effect of the information conveyed by these events. The observed effect of distress on EOC activation but not on selfreported EOC adherence suggests that EOC activation and EOC adherence represent distinct processes. This supports the possibility that the EOC may exist in the knowledge base of most members of societies involved in intractable conflicts, and may be activated under certain circumstances, regardless of their self-reported beliefs. Moreover, the findings suggest that individuals are either unaware of the activation of the EOC under distress or unwilling to report it. If EOC activation is not acknowledged, individuals who do not adhere to the EOC may not take steps to override its effects. Hence, part of the reason for the dominance of the EOC in societies involved in intractable conflicts could be its constant reactivation by situations of distress that the conflict frequently produces. In Study 1b as in Study 1a, EOC activation was highest under high distress resulting from a conflict-related event, which is consistent with the hypothesis. Yet in both studies, this result was a product of the cumulative main effects of distress level and story content. Unexpectedly, the studies reveal that conflict-unrelated distress can also activate the EOC. A possible explanation for this finding may be found in the Meaning Maintenance Model (Heine, Proulx, & Vohs, 2006), which suggests that when individuals' sense of meaning is threatened they will attempt to reaffirm their meaning framework. If asserting meaning in the threatened domain is not possible, they may reaffirm alternative meaning frameworks even if unrelated to the source of the threat. If situations of distress are associated with an undermined sense of meaning (see e.g., Janoff-Bulman, 1992;

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Taylor, 1983), and if the EOC provides a meaning framework in some domains, then according to this model, any situation of distress may motivate reaffirmation of the EOC. It is also possible that the distress caused by the traffic accident activated the EOC by triggering memories conflict-related situations of distress. Research indicates that affective states are associated in memory with different events that have aroused them. Hence, an affective state can activate memories of different events associated with it through a process of spreading activation, thus serving as a cue for the retrieval of such memories (Bower, 1981; Bower, Sahgal, & Routh, 1983). Accordingly, the distress instigated by the traffic accident could have activated memories of conflict-related distress-inducing events, which, in turn, activated the EOC, all through the process of spreading activation. Note, however, that spreading activation from one type of distress-inducing event to another does not imply confusion of the two events. The main effect of story content on EOC activation, as well as on self-reported distress and EOC adherence in Study 1a, indicates that participants distinguished the terror attack from the traffic accident. Both interpretations illustrate the centrality of the EOC in the minds of members of societies involved in intractable conflicts. The EOC appears to be so entrenched in Israeli Jews' knowledge base that even events completely unrelated to the conflict activate it. This may contribute to the continued dominance of the EOC in societies involved in intractable conflicts. In Studies 1a and 1b, distress had no effect on self-reported EOC adherence, corroborating the conclusion that participants were either unaware of the activation of the EOC under high distress or unwilling to report it. If EOC activation under distress either occurs outside awareness or is easily overridden by more deliberate processes, one may wonder whether it has any meaningful consequences. Study 2 addressed this issue by examining the consequences of EOC activation under distress for the processing of new information.

Study 2 Study 2 sought to demonstrate that EOC activation under distress has meaningful consequences even if it is not acknowledged. Specifically, the study tested the hypothesis that EOC activation under distress would facilitate the processing of EOC-consistent information and hinder the processing of EOC-contradicting information. The hypothesis is based on past research on the effect of existing schemas on information processing. Studies have shown that information which is consistent with an activated schema is processed in an efficient manner that quickly captures the gist of the information (Stern, Marrs, Millar, & Cole, 1984; von Hippel, Jonides, Hilton, & Narayan, 1993). In contrast, schema-inconsistent information is processed more elaborately in order to reconcile it with the existing schema or expectation. This results in longer processing times of schema-inconsistent versus schema-consistent information (Stern et al., 1984; White & Carlson, 1983). If the EOC is a schema or set of schemas that exists in the knowledge base of society members, and if distress activates these schemas, then distress should decrease the processing time of EOC-consistent information and increase the processing time of EOC-contradicting information. In this study, distress and its relationship to the conflict were manipulated in the same manner as in Studies 1a and 1b. Participants were then exposed to EOC-consistent and EOC contradicting information items. They had control over the time spent viewing each item, which was assumed to reflect the time required to process the information. Participants in the high distress condition were expected to spend less time processing EOC-consistent items and more time processing EOCcontradicting items than those in the low distress condition. In light of Studies 1a and 1b, this effect was expected regardless of whether the source of distress was related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict or not.

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Method Participants Sixty eight Jewish Israeli students from TAU (41 women, 27 men; Mage = 23.75, SDage = 2.39) participated in the study in exchange for payment. Procedure and materials The experiment was conducted using the Dec-Tracer program, which creates a website that displays information to participants while tracing information processing variables such as the viewing time of information items (see e.g., Geva, Mayhar, & Skorick, 2000). Participants were told that the study concerned Israelis' reactions to news stories and that they would be shown different news items from Israeli media outlets. They had to click a button labeled “continue” in order to proceed between stages of the experiment. The first news item shown was a randomly assigned video or text version of the terror or accident story as in Studies 1a and 1b. Next, instructions indicated that participants would be shown a sample of headlines from the print media. They were instructed to read each headline and click “continue” when they were ready to proceed. Twenty ostensible headlines were then shown one at a time in a fixed random order and the time spent viewing each item was recorded. When participants had gone through all of the headlines the experiment ended and participants were briefed. Among the 20 headlines presented to participants, eight included statements that reflected the EOC (e.g."Minister of Defense: 'Recognition by the Arab world of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state is a necessary condition for ending the conflict with the Palestinians'") and eight included statements that contradicted the EOC (e.g., "Senior IDF officials: 'Tens of thousands of suffering and tortured Palestinians are living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the verge of humanitarian crisis'"). The total number of words in EOC-consistent and EOCcontradicting statements was identical. Four other filler headlines included statements that were unrelated to the conflict. The EOC-consistent and EOC-contradicting statements were chosen from a longer list of 78 ostensible headlines that had appeared in Israeli newspapers. Five Israeli Jewish judges, who had previously conducted research on the EOC, were asked to rate the extent to which each headline was consistent with the EOC or contradicted it. The items chosen for the final set were those judged as most reflective or most contradictory of each EOC theme. Results The times spent viewing the EOC-consistent and EOC-contradicting headlines were log transformed to reduce the effect of outliers and entered into a 3-way mixed ANOVA with distress level and story content as between-subject factors and information type (EOC-consistent vs. ethos-contradicting) as a within-subject factor. The mean times spent viewing different types of headlines (converted back to seconds) are presented in Table 2. The analysis revealed a significant main effect for information type, F(1,64) = 52.58, p b .001, η 2p = .451, indicating that EOC-consistent headlines were generally viewed

Table 2 Mean time (seconds) spent viewing EOC-consistent and EOC-contradicting headlines in Study 2 by distress level and story content. Terror story

EOC-consistent headlines Ethos-contradicting headlines

less time (M = 7.70 s, SD = 2.15) than EOC-contradicting headlines (M = 8.78 s, SD = 2.29). This effect was qualified by a significant information type × distress level interaction, F(1,64) = 6.58, p = .013, η2p = .093. Post-hoc comparisons using the Bonferroni adjustment (α = .05) indicated that the EOC-consistent headlines were viewed for significantly shorter times than EOC-contradicting headlines both in the high distress condition (EOC-consistent: M = 7.63 s, SD = 2.08; EOC-contradicting: M = 9.19 s, SD = 2.54, p b .001, η2p = .430) and in the low distress condition (EOC-consistent: M = 7.78 s, SD = 2.24; EOC-contradicting: M = 8.37 s, SD = 1.95, p =.002, η2p = .146). Examination of cell means and effect sizes indicates that source of the interaction is a greater difference in viewing times between EOCconsistent and EOC-contradicting items in the high distress condition than in the low distress condition, which is consistent with the hypothesis. None of the other main effects or interactions was significant. Discussion The findings of study 2 supported the hypothesis, demonstrating that distress facilitates the processing of EOC-consistent information and hinders the processing of EOC-contradicting information, presumably as a consequence of the activation of the EOC under distress as demonstrated in Studies 1a and 1b. The results are consistent with previous research showing that information which is inconsistent with an activated schema requires longer processing time than schema-consistent information (Stern et al., 1984; von Hippel et al., 1993; White & Carlson, 1983). The effect of distress on the processing of new information demonstrates that the increased activation of the EOC under distress is consequential and not simply overridden when one does not wish to reveal it. These findings further emphasize the power of the EOC in societies involved in intractable conflict. It appears that the EOC may affect responses to new information received under distress even if its activation is not acknowledged and even if the source of distress is unrelated to the conflict. Several previous studies have examined the relationship between the EOC and information processing and found that high adherence to the EOC or some of its component beliefs reduced individuals' willingness to receive new information contradicting the EOC (Halperin & Bar-Tal, 2011; Porat, Halperin, & Bar-Tal, 2013). However, these studies dealt with the very early stage of information processing, namely selective exposure. In the present study, participants had no choice but to receive the information. Hence, the study complements previous research by demonstrating the effects of EOC activation on the ease or difficulty of processing information once it has been received. The effects of distress on the ease or difficulty of processing EOCrelated information may have consequences for the encoding and retrieval of information received in times of distress. In everyday life, individuals cannot devote unlimited time to processing all the information that they receive. If processing EOC-contradictory information under distress requires more time and effort than processing EOC-consistent information, the result could be less elaborate processing of EOCcontradictory than EOC-consistent information. This, in turn, could lead to less accurate encoding and retrieval of EOC-contradicting information and subsequent interpretation of information received under distress as more consistent with the EOC than warranted. Future research could further examine these possibilities. General discussion

Accident story

High distress

Low distress

High distress

Low distress

7.54 (2.26) 8.73 (2.24)

7.90 (2.60) 8.21 (2.09)

7.72 (1.95) 9.65 (2.80)

7.65 (1.88) 8.53 (1.86)

The present research supported the hypotheses that among members of societies involved in intractable conflict situations of distress activate the EOC and this activation has consequences for processing new information. It was proposed earlier that the EOC provides members of societies involved in intractable conflicts with a sense of logic, order, control and positive self-esteem and assists them in accepting their

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victimization and seeing the stressful conditions as challenges. Numerous scholars have suggested that these are important elements in processes of coping with distress (Antonovsky, 1987; Bonanno, 2004; Hobfoll, 2001; Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Kobasa, 1985; Taylor, 1983). More generally, Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, and Sulloway (2003) proposed that endorsement of conservative ideologies fulfills the desire to reduce threat and uncertainty by providing a sense of order, predictability and control. The EOC appears to fulfill similar functions, and is indeed associated with the political right-wing (see Bar-Tal et al., 2012). Thus, the EOC may be considered a specific case of a conservative ideology, which is adapted to the circumstances of intractable conflict and the particular needs that it engenders. As mentioned earlier, several previous studies conducted both in Israel (Canetti et al., 2013; Hobfoll et al., 2006; Shamai & Kimhi, 2006; Solomon & Lavi, 2005) and in other settings (Bonanno & Jost, 2006; Echebarria-Echabe & Fernandez-Guede, 2007) found a relationship between exposure to situations of distress and a shift toward conservative ideologies and\or positions associated with the political right-wing. The present findings extend these past studies by establishing a causal relationship between distress and EOC activation. A causal relationship between threatening circumstances, particularly those involving mortality salience, and the activation of certain ideologies has been established in past studies based on TMT (see reviews in Burke et al., 2010; Greenberg & Arndt, 2011; Greenberg et al., 1997; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1997). The basic premises of the present work regarding the role of the EOC in coping with distress are consistent with TMT, which suggests that the cultural worldview can provide defense against anxiety resulting from death reminders. However, the present findings depart from typical mortality salience findings. First, all the experimental conditions in the present studies included reminders of death and nonetheless differed from each other in levels of distress and EOC activation. Hence, mortality salience alone cannot account for the differences between the high and low distress conditions. One could argue that the experimental conditions differed in the degree to which mortality was salient. However, TMT does not predict that greater mortality salience would result in greater worldview defense. On the contrary, TMT suggests that "relatively subtle mortality salience inductions produce more vigorous worldview defense than more blatant mortality salience inductions" (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon, Simon, & Breus, 1994, p. 628; see also Arndt, Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1997). Moreover, in the present study distress had no effect on worldview defense as reflected in selfreported EOC adherence. Only the indicators of EOC activation and subsequent information processing revealed effects of distress. Finally, the effect of distress on EOC activation occurred immediately after the introduction of the distress manipulation without any distraction. Typical mortality salience effects are often observed only after delay and distraction (Greenberg, Arndt, Simon, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 2000; Greenberg et al., 1994). In a study that investigated the TMT prediction regarding subtle versus blatant mortality salience, Ullrich and Cohrs (2007) tested the effect of a subtle versus deeper manipulation of terrorism salience on system justification. The findings did not support the TMT prediction. In one study there was no difference between the subtle and deeper manipulations, and in another the deeper manipulation led to greater system justification. These results, along with the present findings, suggest that in situations of large-scale intergroup violence, such as terror attacks, factors other than mortality salience may affect ideology activation and system justification. The present findings in particular highlight the role of distress in this process. The present research proposed that EOC activation under distress results from the potential of the EOC to contribute to processes of coping, which is consistent with Jost and Hunyady's (2003) arguments regarding conservative ideologies in general. While the findings confirm the association between the EOC and distress, they do not provide direct evidence regarding the role of the EOC in coping processes. Some evidence

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for this role of the EOC comes from the research by Lavi et al. (2014), which found that EOC adherence attenuated the relationship between financial damage due to intergroup violence and depressive symptoms. However, additional research is required in order to clarify the relationship of the EOC to coping with distress.

Societal implications of the relationship between distress and the EOC Societies cannot survive and function if the individuals that comprise them are not well-adjusted and functioning. Hence, societies may engage in collective efforts to cope with the difficulties that they face (deVries, 1995), and may develop belief systems that assist their members in coping with the specific challenges that their environment poses (Bar-Tal, 2000). It has been suggested here that the EOC is a societal mechanism, imparted to individual society members, which is uniquely suited to assist coping with distress resulting from intractable conflict. The question arises, however, whether the association between the EOC and distress is beneficial to societies involved in intractable conflicts. The EOC emphasizes the justness of the group's goals in the conflict, the importance of maintaining security, the extremely negative attributes of the opponent and the positive qualities of the ingroup as an innocent victim (Bar-Tal, 1998, 2013). This can lead society members to believe that their group's best course of action is to continue engaging in the conflict. Accordingly, EOC activation under distress should increase the likelihood that the group will respond with aggression, causing distress for the opponents. Assuming that the same process takes place among opponents, it would likely lead to an aggressive counterreaction. This, in turn, would intensify the threat and resulting distress, which would increase EOC activation, creating an escalating cycle of violence. As long as society members believe that peaceful conflict resolution is unlikely and/or undesirable, they must prepare to face the challenges of a protracted conflict. In this respect, collective coping mechanisms such as the EOC may be beneficial. Paradoxically, however, the activation of such mechanisms may contribute to the continuation of the violent conflict, which brings with it additional distress. Hence, the counter-productive aspect of the EOC as a coping mechanism is that it may prevent society members from finding a way out of the distress-producing conflict situation, especially since EOC activation may not be acknowledged yet still affect the processing of new information. Even when groups embark on a process of conflict resolution, violence usually does not cease immediately. Violence creates distress, which, in turn, may activate the EOC and set back the conflict resolution process. It follows that any attempts to resolve intractable conflicts peacefully must take into consideration the nature of the EOC and its functions. Given the role of the EOC in the maintenance and escalation of conflicts, changing it may be a necessary step toward achieving sustainable peace (Bar-Tal, 2011). At the same time, however, the EOC serves the needs of individual society members who are coping with distress resulting from the conflict. Thus, any alternative belief system that challenges the EOC must include alternative means of serving this coping function. If such an alternative belief systems is developed, members of societies involved in intractable conflicts, including Israelis and Palestinians, may be able to not only cope with the suffering that these conflicts cause, but to eliminate it completely.

Acknowledgments The research was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctoral degree at Tel Aviv University, Israel. I am indebted to my advisors, Daniel Bar-Tal and Amiram Raviv, for their support through this project.

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Appendix A. Supplementary data Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx. doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.07.017.

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