Rezarta Bilali

New York University | NYU · Department of Applied Psychology

Narrative media interventions in the form of edutainment are increasingly used to change behaviors, social norms, and attitudes. The present study examines the effects of a narrative intervention using role models on efficacy beliefs, behavioral options, social norms, and attitudes. I utilize data from a cluster randomized controlled trial with two...

Violent extremism is one of the major challenges of our time. A cluster-randomized controlled trial with two arms (treatment vs. control) conducted in 132 villages in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso ( N = 2,904 participants) examined whether a narrative intervention in the format of a radio drama can shift behavioral intentions, beliefs, and attit...

In territorial interethnic conflicts people often claim exclusive land ownership for their ingroup. However, they can also view the ingroup and outgroup as entitled to the land. It is unknown what explains such shared ownership perceptions and how these in turn inform opinions about conflict resolution. We focused on different types of collective v...

Why do some people perceive more injustice, feel more anger, or hold higher collective efficacy beliefs, and thereby are readier to engage in collective action than others? Our understanding of collective action is incomplete without a better understanding of what shapes variation in its antecedents. In this paper, we highlight and elaborate histor...

Can perspective taking improve intergroup attitudes in conflict contexts? How does a context of conflict shape people's responses to perspective‐taking tasks and their ultimate effectiveness? The present study addressed these questions by examining the effect of perspective taking (compared with a perspective giving and a control condition) on inte...

Groups in conflict often resist efforts toward reconciliation with the outgroups. Despite the growing research examining processes underlying support for reconciliation, we know little about how resentment might drive members of victim groups that have experienced violence and atrocities to oppose reconciliation and reduce their willingness to forg...

In a three-wave longitudinal study conducted in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, this paper examines how people come to self-categorize into the emerging social movement “the Resistance,” and how self-categorization into this movement influences future participation in collective action and perceptions of the movement’s efficacy. Conventio...

Denial of genocide and other forms of mass violence is the most common response to confrontation with in-group atrocities. Denial is detrimental to peace, reconciliation, and justice. In this chapter the authors provide a social psychological analysis of genocide denial and review the nature of denial as well as the collective (e.g., group and conf...

Donald J. Trump's 2016 presidential election victory spurred strong reactions and unprecedented collective action in the American Left. Taking advantage of the political climate in the wake of the election, this study examined whether the main antecedents of collective action (anger, political identification, and efficacy beliefs) in the immediate...

Denial of responsibility by perpetrator groups is the most common response to group‐based transgressions. Refusal to acknowledge responsibility has dire consequences for intergroup relations. In this research we assessed whether shifting lay beliefs about group‐based transgressions in general influences acceptance of responsibility for a specific i...

Although a notable minority orient to real‐world demonstrations by actively participating, other less involved, safer, orientations are more frequent. Thus, in the context of anti‐government demonstrations in Gezi Park/Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2013, we distinguished between the orientations of participating, visiting, and watching. Stu...

Using a nationally representative dataset from Turkey, we examined the effects of national identity, religious (Sunni Muslim) identity, and intergroup contact on social distance toward disliked groups along ethnic (Kurds), sectarian (Alevis) and ideological divides (supporters vs. opponents of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP). We used structura...

This study examined interest in justice and preferences for retributive and restorative justice among educated Bangladeshi youth (N = 652) in the unique context of the 1971 war and collective violence through which Bangladesh gained its independence. Specifically, we assessed the impact of two family-level factors (the extent of family victimizatio...

This chapter provides an overview of the background, design, and applications of community radio as an engaged and participatory method for bringing about social change. We discuss a community radio education-entertainment (edutainment) campaign in the Great Lakes Region of Africa (i.e., Burundi, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo) that aims...

Acknowledgement of responsibility for in-group harmdoing is considered a precondition for reconciliation. However, we know little about its impact on victim groups. Using a mixed methods approach, in two studies in Bangladesh we examine the role of acknowledgment and denial of responsibility on intergroup outcomes. Study 1 used an open-ended survey...

In this chapter the work of civil society organizations that focus on confronting history as an avenue to achieving intergroup reconciliation in the aftermath of conflict is reviewed. The chapter sheds light on practitioners’ lay theories and strategies to address history for conflict transformation and reconciliation, and contrasts these approache...

Does social influence exerted through role modeling of collective action impact social change in contexts that are not conducive to collective action, such as long-lasting violent conflicts? We examined this question in two field experiments in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. We created two versions of an episode of an existing media inte...

This study explores who Turkish citizens view as the Other, their perceptions, evaluations, and the degree of Othering of these groups in the private and public spheres. Drawing from varied political science and social psychology literature, it also examines the role of social contact, perceived threat, and the strength of national and religious id...

The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice aims to answer the questions: why is prejudice so persistent? How does it affect people exposed to it? And what can we do about it? Providing a comprehensive examination of prejudice from its evolutionary beginnings and environmental influences through to its manifestations and consequences, thi...

The present study (N = 1074) examined the impact of a theory-driven media intervention aimed at violence prevention and intergroup reconciliation in Burundi. We used a novel methodology utilizing audio-based surveys to assess attitudes related to intergroup conflict and reconciliation among community members. We conducted a propensity score analysi...

By happenstance, we found ourselves in Istanbul, Turkey in early June 2013 only days after a mass anti-government protest developed in and around Gezi Park. In addition to informal discussions and interviews with academics and others, we visited the protest site and traveled throughout Istanbul to directly experience the atmosphere and events. We a...

We report on a field experiment and a focus group interview study that examine the impact of a media-based intervention (i.e., radio drama) aimed at promoting peaceful intergroup relations in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In Study 1, we used a priming paradigm to assess the causal impact of the intervention among 1,522 Congolese c...

This chapter provides an overview of the background, design and implementation of a mass media intervention that uses psychological principles to reduce prejudice, prevent cycles of violence and promote reconciliation in the Great Lakes region of Africa. It discusses the translation of psychological principles, the steps and challenges of implement...

This study examined the impact of external cues of (experimentally induced) terrorist threat or security on perceived threat and legitimization of the U.S.’s war in Iraq as a function of perceived in-group homogeneity and in-group identification. In-group identification did not moderate the effects of external cues of threat or security. External c...

This article reflects on the potential and challenges of implementing social psychological interventions in the aftermath of genocide, specifically focusing on an education entertainment media campaign in Rwanda. The analysis is based on the author’s experience working with a non-governmental organization in producing "Musekeweya"—a very popular vi...

The present research examined the differential relationship between distinct construals of collective victimhood—specifically, inclusive and exclusive victim consciousness—and intergroup attitudes in the context and aftermath of mass violence. Three surveys in Rwanda (N = 842), Burundi (N = 1,074), and Eastern DRC (N = 1,609) provided empirical sup...

This article sheds light on the nature of the Turkish denial of Armenian mass killings. A survey study investigates Turkish students’ construals (i.e., attributions of responsibility and perceived severity of harm) of Turkish massacres of Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century. The results demonstrated a high correspondence between particip...

A field experiment in Rwanda investigated the impact of a radio drama designed to increase perspective-taking with regard to the history of intergroup conflict. An audio-based priming technique was used to assess the causal impact of the radio drama. Rwandan participants (N = 842) listened to an audio-delivered questionnaire recorded either in the...

Two U.S. studies report a differential effect of identity centrality and in-group superiority on reactions to in-group victimization and in-group harm-doing. Study 1 (N = 80) found that higher identity centrality predicted less justification for freely-recalled in-group victim events, whereas higher in-group superiority predicted more justification...

Philosopher George Santayana is probably best known today for his aphorism, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Variations of this quote appear frequently when countries, ethnic groups, or individuals engage in conflicts over economic, legal, or territorial issues. The version of history provided by one’s own side is de...

The current study considered the downsides of national identification for minority groups in intergroup conflicts in assimilationist societies. This study examined how, in the Turkish national context, the national and ethnic identifications of ethnic Turks (N = 103) and ethnic Kurds (N = 58) predict construals (i.e., conflict frames, attributions...

Two studies shed light on construals (i.e., attributions of responsibility and perceived severity of harm) of extreme intergroup violence and the relationship between in-group identification and these construals. An investigation of Turkish construals of Armenian massacres at the beginning of the 20th century (Study 1) and Hutus' and Tutsis' constr...

The present research examined how group members construe events of conflict and violence in which their ingroup was involved and shed light on the relationship between ingroup identification and those construals of intergroup conflict. We propose that construals of intergroup conflict vary along two main dimensions, attributions of responsibility a...

This research examines propositions of international image theory in the context of Turkey-U.S. relations. Study 1 derives and tests hypotheses regarding the interrelationships among theory components—perceived strategic relations, images, and behavioral tendencies. In addition, it extends image theory research by examining (1) the role of emotions...

This article examines the overlap between social psychology and the psychological study of peace. We suggest that, within mainstream social psychology, a substantial body of research exists that can be referred to as "social psychological peace research" (SPPR). We present a framework that defines the subject matter and introduces conceptual and me...