All victims have something to say: the differential impact of victims’ narratives on intergroup forgiveness / Todas las víctimas tienen algo que decir: el impacto diferencial de las narrativas de víctimas en el perdón intergrupal (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Social Psychology, 2024
Victims' testimonies have emerged as an interesting tool for generating changes in societies that are seeking to emerge from a violent conflict. However, victims are not a homogeneous group and their stances regarding the perpetrators can different according to whether they accept or reject intergroup forgiveness processes, as was the case of J. Améry, a writer and essayist who survived the Holocaust. In this article, we inquire into the impact of victims' testimonies on attitudes towards intergroup forgiveness in Spain (N = 274). An experimental study with three conditions was designed using victims' testimonies that were favourable (Condition 1) and unfavourable (Condition 2) to intergroup forgiveness, along with a condition with statistical data on violence (Condition 0). The results show a differential impact on attitudes based on the victim's testimony, in addition to emotional activation that is not inherently related to attitudes in favour of forgiveness but instead to the victim's attitude towards that process.
dipot.ulb.ac.be
This article examines the role of intergroup trust and recognition of past sufferings on intergroup attitudes in a situation where the members of a group share a collective memory of victimization. The recurring conflicts between the Dutch-and French speaking communities of Belgium provide an interesting research field to test the assumption that a reconstructive discourse on collective memory (see , that is acknowledging the perspectives of the different rival groups on their past, has the potential to improve intergroup relations. We conducted an experiment among Dutch-speaking students (N = 80) in which we manipulated the degree of importance that French-speakers gave to historical episodes of past victimizations in order to test its impact on the Dutch-speakers' attitudes towards the Frenchspeakers. Results show that intergroup attitudes were most favorable among the high-trusting Dutch-speaking participants when they were led to believe that the French-speakers judged important the events were both communities were considered as victims (Mixed victimization condition), compared to the conditions were only French-speaking sufferings or only Dutchspeaking sufferings were considered important. However, the same Mixed victimization condition elicited less positive attitudes among the low-trusting participants. This suggests that reconsidering the past in a reconciliation perspective could not be effective without paying attention to the level of trust in current group relationships.
Forgiveness: Complexities and Paradoxes in the Context of Genocide and Slavery
Forgiveness or Revenge: Restitution or Retribution?, 2015
Scholarly treatises on forgiveness generally advocate for unconditional forgiveness, based on moral, theological and psychological imperatives. This paper considers often neglected influences of environmental and social contexts and transactions between the offenders and victims relevant to understanding processes involved in forgiving. Specifically we consider forgiveness in the context of two epic crimes against humanity: the Nazi Holocaust and Slavery in the United States. Focusing on perspectives of victims we argue that without restitution, the appropriateness of forgiving must be questioned. We present the case of the continuing suffering of descendants of slaves in the US .We note absence of apology or compensation and ongoing manifestations of racism as deterrents to forgiveness. We next turn to exploring perspectives of elderly survivors of the Nazi Holocaust who live with scars of their trauma. We present data based on in depth interviews with 150 survivors who immigrated to the United States, 150 survivors living in Israel 1 and 104 interviews with survivors who continued to live in Hungary after WW ll. Themes were discerned based on responses to open-ended questions about coming to terms with traumatic experiences endured as survivors are reaching old age. Forgiveness was not found to be a frequent theme articulated by these survivors of genocide. Nevertheless, survivors who had left behind the countries where their trauma occurred, noted the importance of forgiving younger generations for the atrocities perpetrated by their parents' generation. Such themes did not emerge in interviews with survivors who were still living in the same social environment where their trauma had occurred. Acknowledgment of guilt, reparations and active attempts at reconciliation by German society were noted as facilitating forgiveness. This paper points to greater complexities that must inform analyses, when social, psychological and experiential perspectives of victims are focused on.
Recognition of shared past sufferings, trust and improving intergroup attitudes in Belgium
Revista de …, 2010
This article examines the role of intergroup trust and recognition of past sufferings on intergroup attitudes. We conducted an experiment among Dutch-speaking students in which we manipulated the degree of importance that French-speakers gave to historical episodes of past victimizations in order to test its impact on the attitudes towards the French-speakers. Results show that intergroup attitudes were most favorable among the high-trusting Dutch-speaking participants when they were led to believe that the Frenchspeakers judged important the events where both communities were considered as victims, compared to the conditions where only French-speaking or only Dutch-speaking sufferings were considered important. This suggests some level of intergroup trust is a condition for the positive effect of shared memories of victimization on attitudes.
European Journal of Social …
Appealing to common humanity is often suggested as a method of uniting victims and perpetrators of historical atrocities. In the present experiment (N = 109), we reveal that this strategy may actually work against victim groups' best interests. Appealing to common humanity (versus intergroup identity) increased forgiveness of perpetrators but independently also served to lower intentions to engage in collective action. Both effects were mediated but not moderated by reduced identification with the victim group. We, thus reveal an important feature of appeals to common humanity: That this strategy may reduce social change at the same time as helping to promote more positive intergroup attitudes. These novel findings extend research on the human identity to a new theoretically interesting and socially important domain.
Victimhood, Forgiveness and Reconciliation: in Stories of Bosnian War Survivors
2015
In this analysis of the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia, the aim is to describe the informants’ portrayal of “victimhood”, “forgiveness” and “reconciliation” as a social phenomenon as well as analyzing the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the category “victim” and “perpetrator”. When, after the war, different categories claim a “victim” status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories’ victim status are downplayed. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on. The stories of forgiveness and reconciliation are connected to the past; the interactive consequences of war-time violence are intimately linked to the narrator’s war experiences. The interviewees distance themselves from some individuals or described situations. It is common that the ...
Genocide Studies and Prevention, 2008
This article is concerned with psychological reactions on the part of Serbian people to atrocities committed by their group. A study conducted in the aftermath of genocidal acts committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 explored the question of socio-psychological factors facilitating and obstructing individuals' readiness and willingness to acknowledge Serbian atrocities. Eighteen Serbian participants were interviewed in depth about their perceptions and feelings regarding their group's moral violations. The study found that, in general, participants were reluctant to acknowledge and prone to justify their group's misdeeds. Although avoidance of collective atrocities committed in the past was a pronounced psychological reaction, the study also found approach-related tendencies such as intergroup contact to facilitate acknowl-edgment. The implications of these psychological processes for reconciliation are discussed.