This study examines the influence of US Arab-Jewish dialogue-encounter groups on shifts in the attitudes of members. Four literature streams inform the study: the contact hypothesis, social identity theory, the literature on dialogue and conversational learning and the literature on the phenomenon of attitude shift. Using a combination of comparative case study and phenomenological methodologies, three separate sustained Arab-Jewish dialogue groups meeting in the US for at least a year were observed and 28 individual one-on-one interviews with Arab and Jewish members of six different groups were conducted. The research goals were to obtain a richly-descriptive picture of the context and conversation in the three groups, and to apply phenomenological analysis of the interviews to identify examples of individual shifts or transformation.
Findings from the research showed that the dimensions of dialogue were present in two out of the three groups. In the two groups where dialogue occurred, 72% and 99% respectively of the participants reported a shift in attitude. In the third group just 25% of participants reported a shift in attitude.
The dimensions of dialogue identified in the literature are: active listening; suspension of assumptions; establishing psychological safety; expansion (or embracing ambiguity) and finding shared meaning through cognitive and affective dynamics. As a result of this study two other dimensions of dialogue were identified: personal storytelling and the importance of affect as well as cognition in finding shared meaning. Thus the definition of dialogue expands to include emotional as well as cognitive meaning-making.
Implications for practice point to the importance of setting guidelines and establishing effective leadership and facilitation to allow members to share personal stories. This soon leads to a sense of trust and psychological safety in the group which permits the expression of affect and the building of relationships thus creating the space for shift to happen.