The Effect of News Coverage Concerning the Opponents' Reaction to a Concession on Its Evaluation in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Abstract

This research studied the effect of news coverage on evaluation of concessions offered in negotiation. Specifically, it examined the influence of a press report concerning the opponents' reaction to a proposed concession—stating that the opponent has rejected the concession or that the opponent has accepted it—on the evaluation of a concession in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The research also examined the effects of the political affiliation of respondents—as hawks or as doves in the conflict—on their evaluation of the concession. An experimental design was employed in which Israeli-Jewish respondents read a news report that described a concession proposed by the Israelis in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In line with the research hypotheses, the findings demonstrated the operation of a reactive reevaluation effect,whereby Israeli-Jewish respondents evaluated a compromise proposal more positively when it was framed in the news press report as rejected by the Palestinians than when the same compromise was framed as having been accepted by the Palestinians.This bias was also found to affect dovish respondents, while hawkish respondents were not affected by the news coverage concerning the opponents’ response to a concession.