WISE INTERVENTIONS

Extending Halperin et al. (2011), Israeli Jews took part in a 5-hour workshop that encouraged them to view groups in general as capable of change (not focusing on the local Israeli-Palestinian conflict) and emphasized the role leaders have in identifying and amplifying such change. As compared to a control condition taught skills to cope with stress leaders often encounter, the group malleability intervention improved attitudes toward Palestinians, increased hope for a better shared future, and increased conciliatory behavior toward Palestinians over a 6-month period of intense intergroup conflict. A second intervention, focused on the value of perspective-taking in conflicts in general, produced similar but if anything smaller benefits.