Evidence-based communicational interventions to support peace and reconciliation in Colombia

Summary:

How can a population be reoriented towards peace after 62 years of war? We took an experimental approach to this question in Colombia by (1) identifying psychological processes most strongly associated with opposition to peace and re-integration among Colombians, (2) building novel media interventions targeting the psychological impediments to peace, and (3) evaluating the impact of the media interventions in representative samples of Colombians. One intervention significantly reduced dehumanization of FARC members, and increased support for peace and re-integration; the effects were durable (over 2.5 months) and consistent (replicated in a pre-registered confirmatory study), and were mediated, as predicted, by reducing a targeted set of thoughts about what people from the outgroup think and believe (i.e., meta-perceptions), and not by reducing affective prejudice. This research demonstrates that a single exposure to a brief media intervention, created as a collaboration between scientists and professional filmmakers, can have a consistent, significant, and enduring impact on support for peace and re-integration in a post-conflict region. Our work also extends the theory by demonstrating that media interventions can improve intergroup perceptions by challenging meta-perceptions.

Background/Objectives:

A fundamental challenge faced by countries beset by internal conflicts is how to successfully end the conflict and reincorporate ex-combatants so that the conflict will not recur. In 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC leadership negotiated a peace treaty, which the Colombian people narrowly rejected in a referendum, leaving the country to the brink of peace. Our research aimed to build a novel, evidence-based intervention strategy that could increase support for peace by directly addressing the psychological impediments to peace among the Colombian public.

Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:

We surveyed a representative sample of Colombians to determine the psychological factors most strongly associated with opposition to the re-integration of FARC ex-combatants and opposition to peace. In the second phase of research, we partnered with a Colombian film company and interviewed FARC members at a demobilization camp. We created a handful of videos that highlighted views expressed by FARC and non-FARC that counter the perceptions about FARC identified in the first phase of the research. We obtained a new representative sample of Colombians and conducted a randomized controlled study of the effect of the videos on attitudes towards FARC, and support for peace. A follow-up study with the same participants found that these effects persisted a full 3 months later. Finally, we replicated the effects of the intervention on all outcome measures with a novel representative sample of Colombians.

Results/Lessons Learned:

We found that those who viewed a video that featured both FARC and non-FARC challenging the commonly held perception that FARC members are unwilling and unable to integrate into Colombian society (FARC integration) reported significantly less dehumanization, greater empathy, and increased support for peace, relative to Colombians who did not watch the video. This suggests that a meta-perception intervention may be paired with an affective intervention (such as a contact-mediated program) to affect change through multiple pathways. Given that the meta-perception correcting media intervention was quite brief, it may be used also in addition to other interventions.

Discussion/Implications for the Field:

This research demonstrates that a brief media intervention, guided by scientific research and created in a collaboration between scientists and professional filmmakers, can have a consistent, significant, and enduring impact on support for peace in Colombia.

Abstract submitted by:

Andres Casas