“The First Jewish Person I’ve Ever Met”: Insights from a Field Study on Jewish–non-Jewish Contact in Germany
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Kazarovytska, Fiona
Ionescu, Dana
Abstract / Description
What happens when non-Jewish Germans, most of whom do not know any Jews personally, meet a Jew? We present field data from a nationwide intervention program that promotes dialogue between Jewish volunteers and non-Jewish people in Germany. Applying a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed responses from N = 385 non-Jewish attendees who served as initiators of the intervention for a larger group. These initiators shared their insights into the opinion of the group regarding the intervention, along with the feedback they received from the group. Compared to before the intervention, the attitudes of intervention attendees toward Jews were perceived by initiators as significantly more positive both up to one month after the intervention, and at the end of the year in which the intervention took place. Mediation analyses indicated that perspective-taking (rather than increased intergroup knowledge or reduced anxiety) was the most important intermediate factor for this outcome. A qualitative content analysis corroborated the primacy of perspective-taking, and shed light on further factors contributing to a (non-)successful intervention. We discuss the relevance of direct contact experiences in a context in which interactions between non-Jewish and Jewish people are limited but narratives of historical intergroup crimes are omnipresent.
Keyword(s)
intergroup contact intergroup attitudes perspective-taking historical conflict mixed methodsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2024-05-10
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Publisher
PsychArchives
Publication status
acceptedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Citation
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Author Accepted Manuscript_The First Jewish Person I've Ever Met.pdfAdobe PDF - 421.6KBMD5: 4a96039f17e83be12fcac441a3617a31
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Kazarovytska, Fiona
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Ionescu, Dana
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2024-05-10T10:07:09Z
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Made available on2024-05-10T10:07:09Z
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Date of first publication2024-05-10
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Abstract / DescriptionWhat happens when non-Jewish Germans, most of whom do not know any Jews personally, meet a Jew? We present field data from a nationwide intervention program that promotes dialogue between Jewish volunteers and non-Jewish people in Germany. Applying a mixed-methods approach, we analyzed responses from N = 385 non-Jewish attendees who served as initiators of the intervention for a larger group. These initiators shared their insights into the opinion of the group regarding the intervention, along with the feedback they received from the group. Compared to before the intervention, the attitudes of intervention attendees toward Jews were perceived by initiators as significantly more positive both up to one month after the intervention, and at the end of the year in which the intervention took place. Mediation analyses indicated that perspective-taking (rather than increased intergroup knowledge or reduced anxiety) was the most important intermediate factor for this outcome. A qualitative content analysis corroborated the primacy of perspective-taking, and shed light on further factors contributing to a (non-)successful intervention. We discuss the relevance of direct contact experiences in a context in which interactions between non-Jewish and Jewish people are limited but narratives of historical intergroup crimes are omnipresent.en
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Publication statusacceptedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/9934
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.14483
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychArchives
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Keyword(s)intergroup contact
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Keyword(s)intergroup attitudes
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Keyword(s)perspective-taking
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Keyword(s)historical conflict
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Keyword(s)mixed methods
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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Title“The First Jewish Person I’ve Ever Met”: Insights from a Field Study on Jewish–non-Jewish Contact in Germanyen
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DRO typearticle
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology