Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] DO POLITICAL CARTOONS REFLECT ANTISEMITISM? 151
were conducted as 2 (mortality salience) x 2 (bogus pipeline) x 2 (country)
ANOVAs.
To determine if mortality salience affected mood, an analyses of variance
was performed on an abridged version of the PANAS-X, including
Positive Affect and Negative Affect. Consistent with previous TMT
research demonstrating that mortality salience did not influence affect, there
were no significant differences found for any of these analyses (pvalues >
.1). Means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among variables are
presented in Table 1.
Cartoons. This study produced a main effect for the bogus pipeline
manipulation F (1,150) = 5.16, p = .03 for the leadership cartoon and a sig
main effect for the world cartoon F (1,148) = 8.93, p = .003. Participants in
the camouflage condition evaluated them as being less justified (respective
leadership and world means: M = 2.60; M = 2.61), while when told they
would be caught lying, participants viewed the cartoons as more justified
(respective leadership and world means: M = 2.88; M = 3.03).
Analyses yielded a significant MS x country interaction for the leader
cartoon F (1,150) = 7.53, p = .007. In accord with the second hypothesis,
participants in the mortality salience condition rated the cartoon of the
Israeli leader eating Palestinian babies as more justified than in the control
condition (M = 2.90, SD = .95 v. M = 2.50, SD = .83, t [147] = 2.18, p <
.05). This was not the case with those rating the cartoons of the Chinese
leader eating Tibetan babies (M = 2.61, SD = .75 v. M = 2.84, SD = .64, t
[147] = 1.30, p > .1).
Both the leader and world cartoons yielded an unpredicted significant
three-way mortality salience x bogus pipeline x target country interaction—
respective leadership and world Fs: F (1,150) = 6.31, p < .02, F (1,148) =
4.13, p < .05 (see Tables 1 and 2 for means and standard deviations).
Based on these findings, the cartoon conditions were combined to form
a single cartoon condition. In line with the first hypothesis, analyses yielded
a significant main effect for the bogus pipeline manipulation F (1,149) =
11.23, p = .001. Participants did indeed view both the offensive Chinese
There was also a significant interaction of gender (male, female) with mortality
salience for evaluation of the world cartoon, F (1,148) = 4.15, p =.044). There
was a gender difference under mortality salience (Ms =2.60, 3.12, for males and
females respectively, t [148] = 2.61, p = .01), but there was no gender difference
under pain conditions (Ms = 2.77, 2.72 for males and females, respectively t [146]
= .25, p > .1).
Future research might want to further explore these types of race and gender
differences regarding evaluations of political cartoons; they are, however, beyond
the scope of the present research and are not discussed further.