Guglielmo Bellelli

Representaciones del pasado, cultura personal e identidad nacional

Memoria, Historia, Individuo, Nacion,Identidad, — asi, escritos con mayusculas — sonpalabras que se hacen presentes en el discur-so publico de cada dia. Se trata de conceptosque, en ocasiones, se convierten en armasarrojadizas en los conflictos sociales, y se agitancomo conceptos explicativos en los discursospublicos que dan cuenta de la violencia simbo-lica, y a veces de la fisica, que sufren losciudadanos de a pie; quienes, ademas de serpeones en los juegos en marcha, no dejan detener alguna responsabilidad en los resultadosque en estos se den.El proposito de este capitulo es ofrecerun conjunto de conceptos y una estructurarelacional entre ellos que facilite la conexionentre cada una de las aportaciones de queconsta el volumen en su conjunto, al mismotiempo que oferta una reflexion sobre una seriede cuestiones que, sin ser tratadas explici-tamente en cada uno de los otros capitulos,muchas veces estan presentes en forma depresuposiciones no siempre faciles de tener encuenta. Dicho en forma mas breve, lo que aquitrataremos de ofrecer es un marco general detrabajo que, al mismo tiempo, contextualice loscapitulos que siguen sobre el fondo de lapreocupacion contemporanea desde ambitosdisciplinares muy diversos sobre los temas ci-tados al principio.Las cuestiones que aqui nos van a ocu-par, como es el caso de la memoria y la iden-tidad, para ser abordadas con cierto rigor,requieren adoptar un planteamiento capaz de

Cognitive and social consequences of participation in social rites:: collective coping, social support, and post-traumatic growth in the victims of Guatemala genocide

Abstract The collective emotion experienced by those who lived the same experience or meet in a rite to celebrate and remember it, produces effects on both the individual and the community. Our study explored the psychosocial effects, particularly those related to post-traumatic growth, that participating in different rituals had on the reactions of the victims of Guatemala Genocide; it also aimed at investigating the differentiated effects of participation in demonstrations on individual and interpersonal coping reactions. Fifty nine genocide survivors were enrolled from different Guatemala areas and administered measures of: participation in religious and commemoration rituals and in human rights movement, social sharing, intensity of basic emotions, impact of the event, coping, perceived benefits of sharing, and post-traumatic growth. Results revealed that participation in rituals was associated with: higher social support and sharing regarding traumatic events, coping through social support, altruistic behaviour, communal coping or engagement in political action and human rights social movements, whereas, at the same time, with less avoidant thoughts and reactions related to the traumatic event, supporting Durkheims contention. Participation in rituals was also associated with posttraumatic growth, confirming that rituals reinforce positive beliefs about oneself, others and society. Finally, mediation analysis suggested that the effects of participating on post-traumatic growth and socio-emotional support were mediated by communal coping or engagement in social movements.

Thinking back about a positive event: The impact of processing style on positive affect

The manner in which individuals recall an autobiographical positive life event has affective consequences. Two studies addressed the processing styles during positive memory recall in a non-clinical sample. Participants retrieved a positive memory, which was self-generated (Study 1, n = 70) or experimenter-chosen (i.e., academic achievement, Study 2, n = 159), followed by the induction of one of three processing styles (between-subjects): in Study 1, a “concrete/imagery” vs. “abstract/verbal” processing style was compared. In Study 2, a “concrete/imagery,” “abstract/verbal,” and “comparative/verbal” processing style were compared. The processing of a personal memory in a concrete/imagery-based way led to a larger increase in positive affect compared to abstract/verbal processing in Study 1, as well as compared to comparative/verbal thinking in Study 2. Results of Study 2 further suggest that it is making unfavorable verbal comparisons that may hinder affective benefits to positive memories (rather than general abstract/verbal processing per se). The comparative/verbal thinking style failed to lead to improvements in positive affect, and with increasing levels of depressive symptoms it had a more negative impact on change in positive affect. We found no evidence that participant’s tendency to have dampening thoughts in response to positive affect in daily life contributed to the affective impact of positive memory recall. The results support the potential for current trainings in boosting positive memories and mental imagery, and underline the search for parameters that determine at times deleterious outcomes of abstract/verbal memory processing in the face of positive information.