Alagic, Ajlin (2025) War in Palestine and Third-Party Reactions: The U.S. Context. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7th, 2023, led to widespread civilian suffering and sparked sharply divided international responses. This study investigates how such a distant yet emotionally charged conflict affects third-party individuals, particularly in a polarized society like the United States. Specifically, this study explores how misalignment between individuals’ stances on the war in Palestine and the positions of their government or society relates to anger and normative collective action intentions. We explored both the direct effects of misalignment on anger and collective action intentions, as well as whether anger mediates these relationships. Additionally, we examined whether political ideology moderates these pathways. We conducted a cross-sectional study with U.S. participants (N = 473). Results showed that misalignment with the government predicted both anger and normative collective action, with anger fully mediating the relationship. Misalignment with society predicted anger but not collective action directly, and anger inconsistently and weakly mediated this effect. Political ideology moderated the indirect effect of societal misalignment on collective action, with stronger effects for liberal participants. Lastly, no moderation was found for government misalignment. These findings identify misalignment as a key predictor of anger and normative collective action. Lastly, this thesis discusses the theoretical contributions of misalignment as a novel antecedent of anger, as well as some practical implications. Keywords: Israel-Palestine Conflict; Third-Party Reactions; Misalignment; Anger; Normative Collective Action; Political Ideology
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Borinca, I. and Postmes, T.T. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Aug 2025 11:35 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Aug 2025 11:35 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5876 |
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