Intergroup Conflict and the Media: An Experimental Study of Greek Students after the 2008 Riots

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 51.2pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 51.2pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 32px;">We report a laboratory experiment in the context of the December 2008 riots in Greece, after the killing of a 15-year-old student by a policeman. Our sample&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 32px; font-size: medium;">comprised 266 students from the University of Thessaloniki. We tested whether media reports can affect people&rsquo;s willingness to harm those in opposing groups&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 32px; font-size: medium;">by examining the way students allocated money between themselves and others of various professions, including police, in modified dictator games. Exposure&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 32px; font-size: medium;">to media reports decreased giving to police, but only when choices were private. Laboratory behaviour was correlated with self-reported participation in demonstrations,&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 32px; font-size: medium;">supporting the external validity of our measure. Media exposure appears to have affected behaviour by different pathways than those proposed&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 32px; font-size: medium;">in the existing literature, including &ldquo;spiral of silence&rdquo; and &ldquo;frame alignment&rdquo; theories.</span></p></p>

Keywords

• dictator game, Greece, media, conflict, spiral of silence, riots