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The Impact of Framing on American Attitudes in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf and Tirza Shorr - How do various news sources and social media impact attitude formation? We conducted two surveys of 500 subjects each during Dec. 10-12, 2024. Each contained the same questions, but each had a distinct bias in terms of the presentation of information. One was pro-Palestinian; one pro-Israel. Our goal was to understand how the framing of information influences perception. While sympathy for Hamas is low and limited, there is support for Palestinians should they not be identified with Hamas. The lack of strong effects from one-time biased messaging suggests that attitudes in this area are robust and may require earlier and more frequent interventions to effect any real change. Despite claims by some organizations as to the popularity of their social media approaches, without real data on attitude change, we cannot conclude that such efforts are effective. Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf is a senior fellow and analyst in political psychology at the Jerusalem Center, where Tirza Shorr is a senior researcher and program coordinator.
2025-01-23 00:00:00
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