One Size Might Not Fit All: A Tailored Approach to Psychological Intergroup Interventions

Despite growing efforts to improve intergroup relations, the effectiveness of psychological intergroup interventions is often limited. We argue this modest impact stems from a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks targeted outcomes and individual psychological profiles. Through a large-scale intervention tournament (N = 3,685) examining Jewish-Israeli attitudes toward Palestinian citizens of Israel, we discovered that interventions show distinct strengths depending on targeted outcomes: social norms interventions excel at fostering support for social change, while meta-perceptions correction interventions effectively reduce prejudice. Using machine learning, we identified systematic variations in intervention effectiveness based on individual differences, with some interventions showing potential backfire effects among specific subgroups while delivering substantial benefits for others. These results underscore the potential of tailoring interventions to align with both the desired outcomes and the unique characteristics of target populations, paving the way for a new era of precision in intergroup interventions.