The impact of magnitude of harm and perceived difficulty of making reparations on group-based guilt and reparation towards victims of historical harm (original) (raw)

Perspective Taking and Opinions About Forms of Reparation for Victims of Historical Harm

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2012

The present research investigates how reading stories about past mistreatment of children who had been in institutional care affects support for reparations, perceived difficulty of reparations and group-based guilt were investigated in two experiments. In Study 1 we showed that, when the stories increased in perceived harm, so did the perceived difficulty of making reparations whereas group-based guilt decreased. Furthermore, both perceived difficulty of making reparations and group-based guilt predicted support for reparation. It was suggested that these findings were due to a natural confound between the severity of harm and the difficulty of reparations. Study 2 included a direct manipulation of perceived difficulty that was intended to weaken or strengthen the ability to make reparations. This study demonstrated stronger group-based guilt when reparations were potentially possible and not when they are impossible. Moreover, support for reparations varied as a function of perceived difficulty of reparations and group-based guilt mediated that relationship. The research has two key implications. First, advocates of reparations as a mechanism for reconciliation and community healing need to consider the degree to which reparations are perceived to be possible and consider ways of addressing those perceptions. Second, the research provides an experimental demonstration to the power of stories about experience to bolster support for social change.

Group-based guilt and reparation in the context of social change

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2014

This article examines how the consequences of group-based guilt depend on the perceptions of social change of the former perpetrator group. Informed by the Social Identity Theory and research on intergroup threat and help, the hypothesis is that reparation intentions toward members of a victim group as the consequence of group-based guilt is moderated by the perceptions of changes of the status position of the in-group. Two correlational studies tested the assumption among whites in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. As predicted, the results of both studies show that the strength of the positive relationship between group-based guilt and reparation intentions decreases the more people perceive the loss of status for their in-group.

Collective Regret versus Collective Guilt: Different Emotional Reactions to Historical Atrocities

A distinction between guilt and regret in reactions to ingroup atrocities is proposed. Four studies (total N = 1,249) support the notion that guilt and regret are distinct emotional reactions. Whereas guilt is a self-focussed, aversive emotional reaction following from appraisals of responsibility and associated with the intention to make amends, regret follows from an empathic victim perspective, is less aversive and more strongly associated with positive attitudes towards the victim groups and the intention to engage in intergroup contact. These findings suggest that less aversive emotions like regret are more likely to improve intergroup attitudes after a common history of conflict but the aversive experience of guilt might be more potent in motivating reparations.

The Difficulty of Making Reparations Affects the Intensity of Collective Guilt

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2008

We examined how the difficulty of making reparations for the harm done to another group affects the intensity of collective guilt. Men were confronted with information documenting male privilege, and were told that they would have a chance to help women and reduce patriarchy by collecting signatures on a petition. We manipulated the difficulty of making reparations by asking participants to collect 5, 50, or 100 signatures. As predicted by Brehm's (1999) theory of emotional intensity, collective guilt was a non-linear function of the difficulty of making reparations. Men in the moderate difficulty (50 signatures) condition expressed greater collective guilt than participants in the low (5) or high (100) difficulty conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for the theory of emotional intensity, collective guilt, and collective emotions more generally.

Guilt and Reparation

Two studies are reported which examined potential mediators of the effects of collective guilt and shame on reparation attitudes. Samples of young Bosnian Serbs (Ns ¼ 173, 247) were asked to report their feelings of guilt and shame for what their group had done during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia Herzegovina. They also reported their attitudes towards making reparation to Bosnian Muslims. Both collective guilt and shame positively predicted reparation attitudes, but these associations were differently mediated. The effects of guilt were mediated by empathy for the outgroup, while the effects of shame were mediated by self-pity and empathy. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

Does group identification facilitate or prevent collective guilt about past misdeeds? Resolving the paradox

British Journal of Social …, 2011

The influence of group identification on collective guilt and attitudes towards reparation was examined in the context of the Belgian colonization of Congo. People should experience collective emotions to the extent that being a member of the relevant group is part of their self-concept. Yet, the acknowledgement of ingroup responsibility for past misdeeds is particularly threatening for high identifiers and may lead to defensive reactions aimed at avoiding guilt. We therefore predicted, and found, a curvilinear effect of identification on collective guilt. Attitudes towards reparation of past wrongdoings were also assessed and yielded a linear trend: identification predicted less favourable attitudes towards reparation but this effect was marginally stronger as identification increased.

Affirmation, Acknowledgment of In-Group Responsibility, Group-Based Guilt, and Support for Reparative Measures

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011

Three studies, 2 conducted in Israel and 1 conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrated that affirming a positive aspect of the self can increase one's willingness to acknowledge in-group responsibility for wrongdoing against others, express feelings of group-based guilt, and consequently provide greater support for reparation policies. By contrast, affirming one's group, although similarly boosting feelings of pride, failed to increase willingness to acknowledge and redress in-group wrongdoing. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated the mediating role of group-based guilt. That is, increased acknowledgment of in-group responsibility for out-group victimization produced increased feelings of guilt, which in turn increased support for reparation policies to the victimized group. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

Not in My Name: A Social Psychological Study of Antecedents and Consequences of Acknowledgment of In-Group Atrocities

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.

Nuestra culpa: Collective guilt and shame as predictors of reparation for historical wrongdoing

2008

Three studies examined the hypothesis that collective guilt and shame have different consequences for reparation. In 2 longitudinal studies, the ingroup was nonindigenous Chileans (Study 1: N ϭ 124/120, lag ϭ 8 weeks; Study 2: N ϭ 247/137, lag ϭ 6 months), and the outgroup was Chile's largest indigenous group, the Mapuche. In both studies, it was found that collective guilt predicted reparation attitudes longitudinally. Collective shame had only cross-sectional associations with reparation and no direct longitudinal effects. In Study 2, collective shame moderated the longitudinal effects of collective guilt such that the effects of guilt were stronger for low-shame respondents. In Study 3 (N ϭ 193 nonindigenous Chileans), the cross-sectional relationships among guilt, shame, and reparation attitudes were replicated. The relationship between shame and reparation attitudes was mediated by a desire to improve the ingroup's reputation.