Nurit Shnabel

Tel Aviv University | TAU · School of Psychological Sciences

Dehumanization, the denial of human qualities to others, should theoretically be predicted by perceptions of agency and communion, the ‘Big Two’ dimensions coordinating social cognition. However, empirical tests of the relations between dehumanization and the Big Two yielded seemingly contradicting results. We argue that these results can be explai...

The goal of this commentary is to correct the mischaracterization of the research conducted within the theoretical framework of the needs-based model of reconciliation (Shnabel et al., 2023) in a recent BJSP paper authored by Hakim et al. (2022). Putting epistemic and historical disagreements aside, I explain why the research conducted within the m...

Postprint and Figures for Shnabel, N., Ullrich, J., & Nadler, A. (2023). The Needs-based Model of Reconciliation: How Identity Restoration Processes Can Contribute to More Harmonious and Equal Social Relations. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 67.

We examined the association between intergroup contact and academic performance at university among minority students in a context with a segregated pre-university school system. Study 1 tested whether participation in a group dynamics course, which involves intimate interpersonal contact between Israeli Arab (n = 125) and Jewish students, was asso...

When people fight over physical things there are “hidden,” or deeper, reasons that they are fighting, as well. For example, siblings fighting over a toy might also be fighting about which child the parents love more. What do people need to make up—or reconcile—after a fight? According to one theory, people involved in a dispute need different emoti...

This preregistered research analyzed survey data from ethnic and religious advantaged groups in 12 countries (N = 2,304) to examine the interplay between two determinants of support for social change toward intergroup equality. Drawing on the needs-based model and the common-ingroup identity model, we hypothesized that the experience of accepting i...

What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater social equality? Drawing on the needs-based model of reconciliation, we theorized that when inequality between groups is perceived as illegitimate, disadvantaged group members will experience a need for empowerment and advantaged group members a need for ac...

Two studies examined perceptions referring to appearance comments presented as compliments. When taking the target's perspective (Study 1, n = 678), women perceived appearance comments, especially if sexualized (vs. non-sexualized) as less appropriate than men did. Women also believed that, as the targets of sexualized (vs. non-sexualized) comments...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Five studies (N = 2,339) found that men and women, especially if high on benevolent sexism, engage in dependency-oriented cross-gender helping relations in domestic tasks. Study 1 revealed that, in response to hypothetical scenarios of cross-gender helping interactions in traditionally feminine domains (e.g., cooking a dish), men's benevolent sexis...

This chapter builds on the needs-based model of reconciliation, which posits victim groups’ primary need for agency and perpetrator groups’ primary need for morality, and examines dual conflicts in which groups are both victims and perpetrators. The authors posit that in such cases, the experience of victimization is more psychologically impactful...

Guided by the early findings of social scientists, practitioners have long advocated for greater contact between groups to reduce prejudice and increase social cohesion. Recent work, however, suggests that intergroup contact can undermine support for social change towards greater equality, especially among disadvantaged group members. Using a large...

What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater equality? Drawing on the needs-based model of reconciliation, we theorized that when inequality between groups is perceived as illegitimate, disadvantaged groups members will experience a need for empowerment and advantaged groups members a need for accepta...

The #MeToo campaign mobilized millions of women around the world to draw attention to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. We conducted an online survey in Hungary (N = 10,293) immediately at the campaign’s onset, and two subsequent studies in Israel and Germany (Ns = 356, 413) after it peaked, to reveal the motivations underlying people’s suppo...

This commentary analyzes the democratization process triggered by the Polish Round Table Talks using the framework of the Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation, which conceptualizes reconciliation as a social exchange transaction in which perpetrators gain moral-social acceptance, whereas victims gain power. I argue that the talks allowed the restora...

What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater equality? Drawing on the needs-based model of reconciliation, we theorized that when inequality between groups is perceived as illegitimate, disadvantaged groups members will experience a need for empowerment and advantaged groups members a need for accepta...

In the present research, we examined the association between heterosexual men's motivation for dominance over women and their sexual objectification of women. We found that men's social dominance orientation (SDO) correlated with their tendency to sexually objectify women (Study 1). Inducing threat to men's dominance over women by assigning men to...

Two studies examined the effects of exposure to positive gender stereotypes on performance in counter-stereotypical domains and pursuit of agentic and communal goals. Exposure to stereotypes about women’s communality (Study 1, N = 108) led to impaired math performance among women, regardless of their math identification. Exposure to stereotypes abo...

We proposed that the Prescriptive Beauty Norm (PBN), the injunctive demand for women to intensively pursue beauty, reflects motives to maintain gender hierarchy and translates into employment discrimination. In Studies 1a and 1b, the PBN (distinct from other "beauty myth" [Wolf, 1990] components; namely, bodily and grooming standards, and attainabi...

Modern societies are characterized by group-based hierarchies. Similar to attackers, disadvantaged-group members wish to change the status quo; like defenders, advantaged-group members wish to protect it. However, the psychological arrays that are typical of disadvantaged- and advantaged-group members are opposite to those of attackers and defender...

Despite growing scientific interest in the sexually objectifying male gaze, the relation between men’s gazing behavior and their sexually objectifying attitudes has not yet been examined. The present study addressed this gap in the literature. Sixty-one heterosexual Israeli men viewed photographs of female targets while their spontaneous eye moveme...

The madonna-whore dichotomy denotes polarized perceptions of women as either good and chaste or as bad and promiscuous. In the present research, we examined the correlates of madonna-whore dichotomy among samples of heterosexual Israeli, U.S., and German women and heterosexual U.S. and German men. Demonstrating cross-cultural generalizability, mado...

Members of conflicting groups experience threats to different identity dimensions, resulting in the need to restore the aspect of identity that was threatened. Do these needs translate into specific goals in social interactions? In the present research, we examined the hypotheses that (1) experiencing one’s ingroup as illegitimately disadvantaged o...

Um Versöhnung nach Kriegen und anderen gewalttätigen Konflikten zu ermöglichen, müssen nicht nur Sach- und körperliche Schäden berücksichtigt werden, sondern auch die psychologischen Bedürfnisse der Täter- und der Opferseite. Das Bedürfnisbasierte Modell der Versöhnung hilft, den Prozess der Versöhnung zu verstehen und gezielt zu fördern. Wir fasse...

The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy (MWD) denotes polarized perceptions of women in general as either “good,” chaste, and pure Madonnas or as “bad,” promiscuous, and seductive whores. Whereas prior theories focused on unresolved sexual complexes or evolved psychological tendencies, feminist theory suggests the MWD stems from a desire to reinforce patriarch...

Competitive victimhood denotes group members' efforts to establish that their ingroup has suffered greater injustice than an adversarial outgroup. Previous research in contexts of structural inequality has stressed the role of the need to defend the ingroup's moral identity, rather than the need for power, in leading advantaged and disadvantaged gr...

This paper provides an organizing framework for the experimental research on the effects of state self-objectification on women. We explain why this body of work, which had grown rapidly in the last 20 years, departs from the original formulation of objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts, 1997). We compare the different operationalizations...

How does social class affect people’s goals in social interactions? A rank-based perspective suggests actors from higher social classes (compared to lower social classes) have more agentic and less communal goals when interacting with same class or unspecified others. Focusing on targets’ social class, an identity-based perspective suggests the rev...

How does social class affect people’s goals in social interactions? A rank-based perspective suggests actorsfrom higher social classes (compared to lower social classes) have more agentic and less communal goals when interacting with same-class or unspecified others. Focusing on targets’social class, an identity-based perspective suggests the rever...

This chapter presents social‐psychological research on interpersonal and intergroup reconciliation, conducted using the conceptual framework of the Needs‐Based Model. According to this model, conflicts threaten victims' sense of agency and perpetrators' moral image. Consequently, victims and perpetrators are strongly motivated to restore their posi...

Guided by the needs-based model, we explored how individual differences in system justification predict group-members' needs in response to information about group-based disparities. Across two studies (N = 819), we found that among disadvantaged-group members (LGBTIQ* individuals/women) system justification was negatively related to need for power...

Guided by the needs-based model, we explored how individual differences in system justification predict group members’ needs in response to information about group-based disparities. Across two studies (N=819), we found that among disadvantaged-group members (LGBTIQ* individuals/women) system justification was negatively related to need for power....

Members of conflicting groups are motivated to restore their ingroup's agency, leading to anti-social tendencies against the outgroup. The present research tested the hypothesis that affirming conflicting groups' agency would increase their members' mutual pro-sociality. The effectiveness of agency-affirmation was demonstrated in three contexts of...

We examined whether appearance compliments, despite their flattery, undermine cognitive performance. In Study 1, women participants (N = 88 Israeli university students) who wrote about past situations in which they had received appearance compliments (but not competence-related compliments) showed worse math performance than women in a control/no c...

Gender stereotypes are complementary: Women are perceived to be communal but not agentic, whereas men are perceived to be agentic but not communal. The present research tested whether exposure to reminders of the positive components of these gender stereotypes can lead to stereotype threat and subsequent performance deficits on the complementary di...

The interdependence between men and women creates frequent opportunities to engage in cross-gender helping, and benevolent sexist ideas about the nature of gender relations prescribe particular forms of offering and seeking help between men and women. The research presented in this chapter investigated how benevolent sexism – namely, the belief tha...

Groups involved in conflicts characterised by mutual transgressions experience threats to both their agency (i.e. the ability to influence and exert control over outcomes) and moral image. However, the motivation of conflicting group members to restore their agency translates into greater vengeful, antisocial behaviour against their outgroup, where...

Most of the literature on collective victimhood has focused on its negative consequences for conflict resolution. Only recently has the understanding emerged that collective victimhood can also play a role in reconciliation. The present research aimed to test this recent insight in the context of the Israeli– Palestinian conflict. A sample of 200 I...

Conflicting parties experience threats to both their agency and morality, but the experience of agency-threat exerts more influence on their behavior, leading to relationship-destructive tendencies. Whereas high-commitment relationships facilitate constructive tendencies despite the conflict, we theorized that in low-commitment relationships, affir...

Based on theorizing that helping relations may serve as a subtle mechanism to reinforce intergroup inequality, the present research (N = 1,315) examined the relation between benevolent sexism (i.e., a chivalrous yet subtly oppressive view of women) and helping. In cross-gender interactions, the endorsement of (Studies 1, 3, and 4) or exposure to (S...

Conflict narratives, having at their core the belief that the ingroup suffered more than the outgroup (competitive victimhood), are key in maintaining conflicts. Three experiments conducted with Jewish Israelis (Study 1), Turkish Kurds (Study 2), and Americans (Study 3) tested whether conflict narratives can reduce conflict. Studies 1 and 3 showed...

Based on recent extensions of the needs-based model of reconciliation, we argue that in conflicts characterized by mutual transgressions, such as the Israeli– Palestinian conflict, group members prioritize their agency-related over morality-related needs. Optimistically, however, two studies conducted among Israeli Jews (Study 1) and West Bank Pale...

According to Bar-Tal’s theorizing (Bar-Tal, Am Behav Sci 50:1430–1453, 2007; Bar-Tal, Intractable conflicts: Psychological foundations and dynamics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013) societies involved in intractable conflicts develop a collective fear orientation which becomes embedded in these societies’ ethos. Due to this basic orient...

Rights framing - presenting intergroup inequality as violating a minority group's basic rights - challenges the status quo of intergroup relations because it implies that the solution lies in a fundamental structural change. We suggest that majority-group members may show a backlash response to this challenge. Three studies revealed that Israeli Je...

According to the needs-based model of reconciliation, transgressions threaten victims’ sense of agency and perpetrators’ moral image. Consequently, victims and perpetrators experience heightened needs for empowerment and acceptance, respectively. Exchange interactions (e.g., expressions of apologies and forgiveness) through which victims and perpet...

Based on theorizing that helping relations may serve as a subtle mechanism to reinforce intergroup inequality, the present research (N � 1,315) examined the relation between benevolent sexism (i.e., a chivalrous yet subtly oppressive view of women) and helping. In cross-gender interactions, the endorsement of (Studies 1, 3, and 4) or exposure to (S...

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision. Dalai Lama Groups involved in prolonged, violent, seemingly intractable conflicts sometimes reach a point where they may be willing to end the conflict, for example, due to conflict fatigue (Kelman, 2004). However, just as removing weeds is not enough to make a garden flour...

Third parties, particularly if neutral, have been found to promote instrumental conflict resolution. Using the needs-based model’s theoretical framework, we investigated whether third parties can also promote socioemotional reconciliation. Study 1 (N = 124) revealed that in the context of fraud between universities, conciliatory messages from eithe...

Members of conflicting groups often engage in ‘competitive victimhood’, that is, they are motivated to gain acknowledgment that their ingroup is the conflict’s ‘true’ victim. The present study found that compared with a control group, Israeli Jews and Palestinians reassured that their ingroup had won the victim status showed increased willingness t...

Members of conflicting groups often engage in ‘competitive victimhood’, that is, they are motivated to gain acknowledgment that their ingroup is the conflict’s ‘true’ victim. The present study found that compared with a control group, Israeli Jews and Palestinians reassured that their ingroup had won the victim status showed increased willingness t...

We discuss the complexity of the concept of intergroup reconciliation, offer our definition of it, and identify instrumental and socio-emotional processes as distinct processes that facilitate reconciliation. We then present the needs-based model, according to which conflicts threaten victims' sense of agency and perpetrators' moral image, and soci...

This research examined the effects of structural conditions on perceptions of and responses to an apology offered by an advantaged majority group to a disadvantaged minority group. We used the dramatic regional changes of the Arab Spring to manipulate the instability of status relations between Israeli Arabs and Jews. In two studies, we found that...

According to the Needs-Based Model, reconciliation requires the restoration of victims' sense of power and perpetrators' moral image, which can be achieved through the exchange of empowering and accepting messages. In two role-playing experiments, we extended the model by examining the role of message source, the other conflict party versus a neutr...

Victimized versus perpetrating individuals or groups are known to experience enhanced needs for empowerment or acceptance, respectively. The present research examined the emotional needs and consequent anti- and prosocial behaviors (e.g., vengefulness vs. helpfulness) of individuals or groups serving both as victims and perpetrators simultaneously...

In this article, we develop a perspective on social change as cooperation between advantaged and disadvantaged groups to facilitate not only redistribution of power and wealth but also restoration of threatened identity dimensions. We argue that disadvantaged groups experience threats to their agency whereas advantaged groups experience threats to...

Applying the Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation to contexts of group disparity, two studies examined how messages from outgroup representatives that affirmed the warmth or competence of advantaged or disadvantaged groups influenced their members’ intergroup attitudes. Study 1 involved natural groups differing in status; Study 2 experimentally mani...

Previous theories concerning the “Big Two” dimensions have focused on people’s perceptions and judgments of various social targets. The research presented in this article extends current theorizing by shedding light on how the targets of these judgments respond, in terms of motivational outcomes, to being perceived as high or lowon agency or commun...

We argue that facilitating forgiveness among groups involved in intractable conflicts requires reducing competitive victimhood which stems from the conflicting parties' motivation to restore agency and a positive moral image. Examining novel and traditional re-categorization interventions, Study 1 found that inducing Israeli Jews and Palestinians w...

Two experiments examined for the first time whether the specific content of participant-generated affirmation essays-in particular, writing about social belonging-facilitated an affirmation intervention's ability to reduce identity threat among negatively stereotyped students. Study 1, a field experiment, revealed that seventh graders assigned to a...

The Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation Competitive Victimhood Applying the Needs-Based Model to Contexts of Competitive Victimhood Forces that Enable Constructive Dialogue Conclusion References

Inter-group competitive victimhood (CV) describes the efforts of members of groups involved in violent conflicts to establish that their group has suffered more than their adversarial group. Such efforts contribute to conflicts' escalation and impede their peaceful resolution. CV stems from groups' general tendency to compete with each other, along...

Inter-group competitive victimhood (CV) describes the efforts of members of groups involved in violent conflicts to establish that their group has suffered more than their adversarial group. Such efforts contribute to conflicts’ escalation and impede their peaceful resolution. CV stems from groups’ general tendency to compete with each other, along...

IntroductionSocial Categorization and Social BiasThe Common In-Group Identity Model and Intergroup Biascommon Identity and Prosocial BehaviorDual IdentitiesResponses to Expressed Identity: Prejudice and HelpingMechanisms and Moderatorsconclusion

Guided by the Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation, we hypothesized that being a member of a victimized group would be associated with a threat to the status and power of one’s ingroup, whereas being a member of a perpetrating group would threaten the image of the ingroup as moral and socially acceptable. A social exchange interaction through which...

Whereas intragroup processes and intergroup relations are often assumed to reflect discrete processes and cooperation and conflict to represent alternative outcomes, the present article focuses on intergroup dynamics within a shared group identity and challenges traditional views of cooperation and conflict primarily as the respective positive and...

We propose that following a victimization episode, victims experience an enhanced need for power, whereas perpetrators experience an enhanced need for social acceptance. We present the needs-based model of reconciliation, according to which the reciprocal satisfaction of these needs may lead to improved relations between victims and perpetrators. W...

This chapter centers on processes of intergroup reconciliation and has three related goals. It begins with a definition of reconciliation, then considers the distinction between socioemotional and instrumental reconciliation. The Needs-Based Model of socioemotional reconciliation is presented. The chapter concludes by discussing the theoretical and...

The authors propose that conflict threatens different psychological resources of victims and perpetrators and that these threats contribute to the maintenance of conflict (A. Nadler, 2002; A. Nadler & I. Liviatan, 2004; A. Nadler & N. Shnabel, in press). On the basis of this general proposition, the authors developed a needs-based model of reconcil...