Arabs more threatened than Jews after watching violent clips

LONDON - A study revealed that the level of threat the Arabs feel after watching a violent clip was significantly higher than for the Jewish participants.

The study was conducted by Moshe Zeidner with counterpart Hasida Ben-Zur and Shlomit Reshef of the University of Haifa, Israel.

They set out to examine whether exposure to TV reportage of terror events or political violence could pose some form of indirect threat to the viewer, according to a Haifa statement.

Seventy-eight students participated. Of these, 39 watched video clips of terror attacks or political attacks on Israelis, as broadcast in the news over the past decade.

The control group watched same-length videos showing non-violent everyday events as they appeared in the news.

Students who had viewed terror events felt more personally threatened and reported a significantly lower level of psychological resources (sense of success, importance and commitment) after watching, compared to the control group. The first group also reported higher levels of negative feelings and mood.