Learning to Stand in the Other's Shoes: A Computer Video Game Experience of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

We examined the role of experience, religion, and political affiliation in learning to resolve a conflict through the video game, PeaceMaker, which simulates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by modeling the factors contributing to it. The hypothesis was that practice in the video game would diminish the initial effects of religious views and political affiliations on how people resolve the conflict within the game. Students played several rounds of PeaceMaker and responded to questions about their religious and political beliefs. Results revealed an improvement in students' game scores and a reduction in the correlations between scores and religion, political affiliation, and game performance across games played. Results suggest that the understanding of the conflict that is provided by the game simulation combined with practice may make it possible to reduce personal bias and learn to stand in another's shoes when engaging in conflict resolution exercises.