All Victims Have Something to Say: The Differential Impact of Victim Narratives on Intergroup Forgiveness

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 intergro...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Castro Abril, Pablo, Basabe Barañano, María Dolores, López López, Wilson, Telletxea Artzamendi, Saioa, Páez Rovira, Darío
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/70744
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/70744
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:intergroup forgiveness
victims
testimonies
collective violence
Descripción
Sumario: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.