Predictors of Beliefs in Intergroup Forgiveness in a Chilean General Population Sample

  1. Cárdenas, Manuel
  2. Arnoso Martinez, Maitane
  3. Páez Rovira, Darío
Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2015

Volumen: 18

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2015.36 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Resumen

Original survey data from a Chilean sample (N = 1267) are used to study the socio-demographic and psychosocial determinants of belief in forgiveness attitudes in the context of measuring the impact of truth and reconciliation reports (NTRC, 1991) and Political Imprisonment and Torture (NPIC, 2004) commissions. A linear multiple regression analysis (R2 = .15; F(8, 1269) = 14.65; p < .001; effect size f 2 = .18) revealed the positive effect of perceived apology sincerity (ß = 0.22; p < .001), emotions of anger (ß = �0.08; p < .05), and positive social climate (ß = 0.08; p < .05). People who believe in the victims� forgiveness feel less anger, have more positive perceptions of the sincerity and efficacy of the apologies, agree to a greater extent that the commission helped to find out the truth about what happened to the victims, and have a greater perception of the social climate as positive. The results show the importance of psychosocial and institutional variables in beliefs about forgiveness, and they suggest differences between interpersonal and intergroup forgiveness processes.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Aguilar P., Balcells L., & Cebolla H. (2011). Las actitudes de los españoles ante las medidas de justicia transicional relativas a la guerra civil y al franquismo [Spaniard’s attitudes towards civil war and francoism’s transitional justice measures]. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 69, 59–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/ris.2009.06.30
  • Avruch K. (2010). Truth and reconciliation commissions: Problems in transitional justice and the reconstruction of identity. Transcultural Psychiatry, 47, 33–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363461510362043
  • Bar-Tal D. (Ed.) (2011). Intergroup conflicts and their resolution: Social psychological perspective. Hove, UK and New York, NY: Psychology Press: Frontiers of Social Psychology Series.
  • Baumeister R. F., Exline J. J., & Sommer K. L. (1998). The victim role, grudge theory, and two dimensions of forgiveness. In E. L. Worthington, Jr. (Ed.), Dimensions of forgiveness: Psychological research and theological principles (pp. 79–106). Philadelphia, PA: Templeton Foundation Press.
  • Bellelli G., Leone G., & Cursi A. (1999). Emoción y memoria colectiva. El recuerdo de los acontecimientos públicos [Emotion and collective memory. The memory of public events]. Psicología política, 18, 101–124.
  • Beristain C. M., Páez D., Rimé B., & Kanyangara P. (2010). Psychosocial effects of participation in rituals of transitional justice. Revista de Psicología Social, 25, 47–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1174/021347410790193450
  • Brahms E. (2009). What is a truth commission and why does it matter? Peace and Conflict Review, 3, 1–14.
  • Brounéus K. (2008). Truth-telling as talking cure? Insecurity and Retraumatization in the Rwandan Gacaca Courts. Security Dialogue, 39, 55–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0967010607086823
  • Brown R., González R., Zagefka H. Manzi J., & Cehajic S. (2008). Nuestra culpa: Collective guilt and shame as predictors of reparation for historical wrongdoing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 75–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.75
  • Brown R., & Cehajic S. (2008). Dealing with the past and facing the future: Mediators of the effects of collective guilt and shame in Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 669–684. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.466
  • Cárdenas M., Páez D., & Rimé B. (2013a). El impacto psicosocial de los procesos transicionales en Chile: Evaluación de los efectos de las Comisiones Nacional de “Verdad y Reconciliación” y “prisión política y tortura” [The psychosocial impact of transitional processes in Chile: Assessing the impact of the National Commissions on “Truth and Reconciliation” and “Political Imprisonment and Torture”]. Revista de Psicología Social, 28, 145–156.
  • Cárdenas M., Páez D., & Rimé B. (2013b). Transitional justice processes, shared narrative memory about past collective violence and reconciliation. In R. Cabecinhas & L. Abadia (Eds.). Narratives and social memory: Theoretical and methodological approaches (pp. 61–75). Braga, Portugal: University of Minho.
  • Cárdenas M., Páez D., Rimé B., Bilbao A., & Asún D. (2014). Personal emotions, emotional climate, social sharing, beliefs, and values among people affected and unaffected by past political violence. Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 20, 452–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000038
  • Cárdenas M., Páez D., Arnoso M., & Rimé B. (2013). Percepción del clima socioemocional y la confianza institucional en víctimas de violencia política: Valoración del impacto de la comisión nacional de verdad y reconciliación [The perception of the socio-emotional climate and institutional trust in victims of political violence: Impact assessment of the national commission of truth and reconciliation]. Psykhe, 22, 111–127. http://dx.doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.22.2.572
  • Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación (1991). Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación [Report of the National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation]. Santiago, Chile: Andros Impresores.
  • Comisión Nacional de Prisión Política y Tortura (2014). Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Prisión Política y Tortura [Report of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture]. Santiago, Chile: Author. Retrieved from http://www.comisionvalech.gov.cl/InformeValech.html
  • De Rivera J., & Páez D. (2007). Emotional climates, human security, and cultures of peace. Journal of Social Issues, 63, 233–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00506.x
  • Devos T., Silver L. A., Mackie D. M., & Smith E. R. (2002). Experiencing intergroup emotions. In D. M. Mackie & E. R. Smith (Eds.), From prejudice to intergroup emotions: Differentiated reactions to social groups (pp. 113–134). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
  • Dresler-Hawke E., & Liu J. H. (1996). Collective shame and the positioning of German national identity. Psicología Política, 32, 131–153.
  • Etxeberría I., Conejero S., & Pascual A. (2011). La culpa en contextos de violencia política [Guilt in contexts of political violence]. In D. Páez, M. Beristain, J. L. González, N. Basabe, & J. de Rivera (Eds.), Superando la violencia colectiva y construyendo cultura de paz [Overcoming collective violence and building a culture of peace] (pp. 39–68). Madrid, Spain: Fundamentos.
  • Fehr R., Gelfand M. J., & Nag M. (2010). The road to forgiveness: A meta-analytic synthesis of its situational and dispositional correlates. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 894–914. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019993
  • Fredrickson B. (2009). Positivity. New York, NY: Crown. Hayner P. B. (2001). Unspeakable truths: Confronting state terror and atrocity. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (2003). Censo 2002. Síntesis de Resultados. [Census 2002. Summary of Results] Santiago, Chile: La Nación SA. Retrieved from http://www.ine.cl/cd2002/sintesiscensal.pdf
  • Jelin E., & Langland I. (2003). Monumentos, memoriales y marcas territoriales [Monuments, memorials and territorial markings]. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo XXI.
  • Kaminer D., Stein D. J., Mbanga I., & Zungu-Dirwayi N. (2001). The truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa: Relation to psychiatric status and forgiveness among survivors of human rights violations. British Journal of Psychiatry, 178, 373–377. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.178.4.373
  • Kanyangara P. (2008). Justice et verite après un genocide: Impact psychosocial sur le pardon et la reconciliation [Justice and truth after genocide: Psychosocial impact on forgiveness and reconciliation]. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Faculte de Psychologie. Louvain, Belgique.
  • Kanyangara P., Rimé B., Philippot P., & Yzerbit V. (2007). Collective rituals, emotional climate and intergroup perception: Participation in Gacaca tribunals and the assimilation of the Rwandan genocide. Journal of Social Issues, 63, 387–403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00515.x
  • Lira E. (2010). La reparación a las víctimas: Una responsabilidad del Estado [The reparation to victims: A state responsibility]. Mensaje, 59, 6–11.
  • Lira E. (2011). Verdad, reparación y justicia: El pasado que sigue vivo en el presente [Truth, justice and reparation: The past is still alive in the present]. In Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos. Contribución de las políticas de verdad, justicia y reparación a las democracias en América Latina [Contribution of policies of truth, justice and reparation for democracies in Latin America] (pp.85–127). San José, Costa Rica: IIDH.
  • Mackie D. M., & Smith E. R. (Eds.) (2002). From prejudice to intergroup emotions: Differentiated reactions to social groups. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
  • Manzi J. (2006). Memoria colectiva del golpe de estado en Chile [Collective memory of the coup d’etat in Chile]. In M. Carretero, A. Rosa, & M. F. González (Eds.), Enseñanza de la historia y memoria colectiva [Teaching history and collective memory]. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Paidós.
  • Manzi J., Ruiz S., Krause M., Meneses A., Haye A., & Kronmüller E. (2004). Memoria colectiva del golpe de Estado de 1973 en Chile [Collective memory of the 1973 military coup in Chile]. Revista Interamericana de Psicología, 38, 153–169.
  • Manzi J., & González R. (2007). Forgiveness and reparation in Chile: The role of cognitive and emotional intergroup antecedents. Peace & Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 13, 71–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0094025
  • Morton T. A., & Postmes T. (2011). Moral duty or moral defense? The effects of perceiving shared humanity with the victims of in-group perpetrated harm. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 127–134.
  • Mullet E., Nann S., Kandiangandu J., Neto F., & Pinto M. da C. (2011). Hacia una política positiva: El caso del perdón en el contexto intergrupal de África y Asia [Towards a positive policy: The case of intergroup forgiveness in the context of Africa and Asia]. In D. Páez, M. Beristain, J. L. González, N. Basabe, & J. de Rivera (Eds.), Superando la violencia colectiva y construyendo cultura de paz [Overcoming collective violence and building a culture of peace] (pp. 377–398). Madrid, Spain: Fundamentos.
  • Nadler A., & Schnabel N. (2008). Instrumental and socioemotional paths to intergroup reconciliation and the need-based model of socio-emotional reconciliation. In A. Nadler, T. E. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Intergroup Reconciliation (pp.37–56). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Nadler A., Malloy T. E., & Fisher J. D. (2008). The Social Psychology of Intergroup Reconciliation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Noor M., Brown R., & Prentice G. (2008). Prospects for intergroup reconciliation: Social-psychological predictors of intergroup forgiveness and reparation in Northern Ireland and Chile. In A. Nadler, T. E. Malloy, & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup reconciliation (pp. 97–114). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Páez D. (2010). Official or political apologies and improvement of intergroup relations: A neo-Durkheimian approach to official apologies as rituals. Revista de Psicología Social: International Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 101–115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1174/021347410790193504
  • Philpot C. R., & Hornsey M. J. (2008). What happens when groups say sorry: The effects of intergroup apologies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 474–487. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167207311283
  • Rimé B., Finkenauer C., Luminet O., Zech E., & Philippot P. (1998). Social sharing of emotion: New evidence and new questions. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), (pp. 845–189). Chichester, UK: Wiley & Sons Ltd.
  • Rimé B., Kanyangara P., Yzerbyt V., & Paez D. (2011). The impact of Gacaca tribunals in Rwanda: Psychosocial effects of participation in a truth and reconciliation process after a genocide. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 695–706. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.822
  • Sikkink K., & Booth Walling C. (2007). The Impact of human rights in Latin America. Journal of Peace Research, 44, 427–445. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022343307078953
  • Staub E., Pearlman L. A., Gubin A., & Hagengimana A. (2005). Healing, reconciliation, forgiving and the prevention of violence after genocide or mass killing: An intervention and its experimental evaluation in Rwanda. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 297–334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/jscp.24.3.297.65617
  • Stroebe W., & Stroebe M. (1996). The social psychology of social support. In T. Higgins & W. Kruglanski: Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 597–622). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
  • Tam T., Hewston M., Cairns E., Tausch N., Maio G., & Kenworthy J. (2007). The impact of intergroup emotions on forgiveness in Northern Ireland. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10, 119–135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430207071345
  • Tam T., Hewstone M., Kenworthy J. B., Cairns E., Marinetti C., Geddes L., & Parkinson B. (2008). Postconflict reconciliation: Intergroup forgiveness and implicit biases in Northern Ireland. Journal of Social Issues, 64, 303–320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00563.x
  • van Tongeren D. R., Burnette J. L., O’Boyle E., Worthington E. L. Jr., & Forsyth D. R. (2014). A metaanalysis of intergroup forgiveness. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9, 81–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.844268
  • Vázquez C., & Páez D. (2011). Post-traumatic growth in Spain. In T. Weiss & R. Berger (Eds.), Post-traumatic growth and culturally competent practice (pp. 97–112). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons.
  • Wohl M. J. A., Hornsey M. J., & Bennett S. H. (2012). Why group apologies succeed and fail: Intergroup forgiveness and the role of primary and secondary emotions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 306–322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0024838
  • Wohl M. J. A., & Branscombe N. R. (2005). Forgiveness and collective guilt assignment to historical perpetrator groups depend on level of social category inclusiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 288–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.2.288
  • Zech E., Rimé B., & Nils F. (2004). Social sharing of emotion, emotional recovery, and interpersonal aspects. In P. Philippot & R. Feldman (Eds.). The regulation of emotion (pp. 159–188). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.