Implicit measures of attitude change via narrative intervention in the Karabakh conflict

Abstract

Based on the narrative approach to interethnic conflicts, the article examines the effect of different types of narratives on Azerbaijani attitudes toward Armenians. Narrative effects were assessed using implicit attitude measures based on the sequential evaluative priming technique. Taking into account the current state of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, we expected negative implicit attitudes in reaction to a picture of the President of Armenia. Surprisingly, Azerbaijanis who had been displaced by Armenians showed generally less negative implicit attitudes than non-displaced participants. Indeed, a narrative of common suffering elicited from displaced persons a small attitude shift towards positivity that might indicate a latent “reconciliatory” potential of this type of narrative. Discussion emphasizes the potential of research on narrative transformation for both peace-building and better understanding of implicit attitudes.

Keywords::

• implicit attitudes
• collective memory
• narrative
• emotions
• Karabakh war
• reconciliation

Notes

^1. In 2013 the President of Armenia, S. Sargsyan, is by origin from Nagorno Karabakh. He was one of the commanders of militant groups that in 1992 assaulted Khojaly, a small town in Nagorno Karabakh. This was the bloodiest episode in the Karabakh war, with the deaths of hundreds of town-dwellers, including children, women and old people (De Waal, 2003).