The effect of a major event on stereotyping: terrorist attacks in Israel and Israeli adolescents' perceptions of Palestinians, Jordanians and Arabs

This study examines the effect of a major event (terrorist attacks) on the stereotypic perceptions, attitudes and affects of 119 Israeli adolescents ( 56 males and 63 females of 5th and 8th grades) toward three target groups: (ai Palestinians, who still have conflictive relations with the Israelis (P alestinian extremists carried out the attacks), (b) Jordanians, who have pe aceful relations with the Israelis and (C) Arabs, in general, who are consi dered a subcategory including Arabs of all nations. The questionnaires were administered to the same adolescents three times. during a relatively peac eful spell in Israeli-Palestinian relations: one day following two terroris t attacks, and three months thereafter In the last administration adolescen ts' need for closure was also measured. Adolescents' perceptions, attitudes and affect toward the three target group were differentiated-relating to P alestinians most negatively and to Jordanians most positively Also, followi ng the terrorist attacks, stereotypic perceptions and attitudes changed in a negative direction, in relation to all the three groups: again with expre ssed differentiation among the three groups. In the third measurement, some measures remained negative, but some changed to be more positive. Only few effects of age were detected and several significant correlation with need for closure were found. These results indicate that stereotypes and attitu des toward outgroups are context-dependent, influenced by events: thus they serve as 'a seismograph' to the quality of intergroup relations at any giv en time. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.