Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: The Effect of Anger and Sadness on Vengeance: A Laboratory in the Field Experiment in East Jerusalem

政治学博士论文研究：愤怒和悲伤对复仇的影响：东耶路撒冷现场实验的实验室

• 批准号: 1064501
• 负责人: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-05-01 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1064501&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

This research project tackles a question of central scholarly and policy importance: how do emotions--particularly anger--affect individuals' decisions about conflict and vengeance? Recent work in psychology, political science, and economics has shown that emotions influence both political and economic decisions. Conflict is one particular area that has puzzled researchers and policymakers alike. The question remains: why do individuals, groups, and nations choose to engage in violent, costly conflict, when conceivably, a peaceful agreement could yield a preferred outcome for both parties? Some scholars believe that religious and cultural differences explain most modern-day conflicts. Yet such research does not adequately address why individual motives vary within and across conflicts; it also tends to treat emotions as irrational urges. This project seeks to overcome the shortcomings of extant work and provide a novel, rigorous framework for studying the impact of anger and sadness on vengeance.Given the emotions surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict and its perceived intractability, it represents an important case to explore how anger influences vengeful behavior. This project will examine two Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem that have been affected to varying degrees by settlement activity and house demolitions. The investigator will recruit roughly 72 Palestinian subjects in each city over the age of 28 (that is, of voting age since the beginning of the Second Intifada) who will participate in a decision-making experiment at a local community center. Subjects will be randomly partnered and informed of a pending Jewish settlement in their community. They will then be randomly assigned to a treatment that asks them to describe what makes them most angry or sad about the settlement. Of key interest is how anger relative to sadness influences subjects' decisions on hypothetical allocations of varying amounts of money to the supposed "punishment" of their partner. If subjects only care about how much money they earn, they should not "pay for vengeance." This project builds on the researcher's July 2010 experiments in the Southern District Israeli communities affected to varying degrees by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. The experiment used a similar protocol and emotional treatment. Preliminary findings suggest that anger and sadness have opposing effects on the decision to "pay for vengeance:" in the community most affected by rocket fire, anger decreased punishment, whereas in the less affected community, anger increased punishment.This project not only speaks to scholarly debates on the sources of vengeful behavior but also makes several broader contributions. The role that emotions play in conflict has mostly been explored at the survey level in international relations, or in the dispassionate setting of a laboratory in campuses in U.S. universities. This project seeks to bring the control of a laboratory experiment to a population and policy question of great importance. Both settlements and house demolitions in East Jerusalem are viewed within the Palestinian community, and by many members of the international community, as a major obstacle to peace. This study will help policymakers and academics better understand the emotional and behavioral effects of the settlements and demolitions on the Palestinian community. Finally, the project enhances general understanding of how violence against a civilian population influences emotions and grievances in order to foster stability and development.

这个研究项目解决了一个中心学术和政策重要性的问题：情绪-特别是愤怒-如何影响个人对冲突和复仇的决定？心理学、政治学和经济学的最新研究表明，情绪会影响政治和经济决策。冲突是一个让研究人员和政策制定者都感到困惑的特殊领域。问题仍然是：为什么个人、团体和国家选择参与暴力、代价高昂的冲突，而可以想象，和平协议可以产生双方都希望的结果？一些学者认为，宗教和文化差异解释了大多数现代冲突。然而，这样的研究并没有充分说明为什么个人的动机在冲突中和冲突之间会有所不同;它还倾向于将情绪视为非理性的冲动。这个项目旨在克服现存研究的不足，并提供一个新颖的，严谨的框架来研究愤怒和悲伤对复仇的影响。考虑到围绕以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突的情绪及其被认为的棘手性，它代表了一个重要的案例来探索愤怒如何影响复仇行为。该项目将考察东耶路撒冷的两个巴勒斯坦居民区，这两个居民区在不同程度上受到定居点活动和拆毁房屋的影响。研究人员将在每个城市招募大约72名28岁以上的巴勒斯坦人（即自第二次起义开始以来的投票年龄），他们将参加当地社区中心的决策实验。受试者将被随机配对，并被告知他们社区中即将建立的犹太人定居点。然后，他们将被随机分配到一个治疗，要求他们描述什么让他们最愤怒或悲伤的解决方案。关键的兴趣是愤怒相对于悲伤如何影响受试者的决定，假设分配不同数量的钱来“惩罚”他们的伴侣。如果受试者只关心他们赚了多少钱，他们就不应该“为复仇而付出代价”。“该项目是在研究人员2010年7月在受到来自加沙地带火箭弹不同程度影响的南区以色列社区进行的实验基础上开展的。该实验采用了类似的协议和情绪治疗。初步研究结果表明，愤怒和悲伤对“为复仇付出代价“的决定有相反的影响：在受火箭弹袭击影响最严重的社区，愤怒减少了惩罚，而在受影响较轻的社区，愤怒增加了惩罚。这个项目不仅涉及到关于愤怒行为来源的学术辩论，而且做出了一些更广泛的贡献。情绪在冲突中所扮演的角色，大多是在国际关系的调查层面上，或者在美国大学校园实验室的不确定环境中进行探索的。该项目旨在将实验室实验的控制带到一个非常重要的人口和政策问题上。在东耶路撒冷的定居点和拆毁房屋被巴勒斯坦社区和国际社会许多成员视为和平的主要障碍。这项研究将有助于决策者和学者更好地了解定居点和拆除对巴勒斯坦社区的情感和行为影响。最后，该项目提高了对针对平民的暴力如何影响情绪和不满的一般认识，以促进稳定和发展。