Sabina Čehajić-Clancy

Social-Psychological Interventions for Intergroup Reconciliation: An Emotion Regulation Perspective

Abstract Intergroup reconciliation is a requirement for lasting peace in the context of intergroup conflicts. In this article, we offer an emotion regulation perspective on social-psychological interventions aimed at facilitating intergroup reconciliation. In the first section of the article, we conceptualize intergroup reconciliation as an emotion-regulation process involving positive affective change and offer a framework that integrates the emotion regulation and intergroup reconciliation literatures. In the sections that follow, we review social-psychological interventions that involve changes in beliefs and identity and assess their effects on specific intergroup emotions pertinent for intergroup reconciliation. More specifically, we focus our discussion on specific reconciliation-oriented intervention strategies and their relation to emotions pertinent for facilitating reconciliation, including intergroup hatred, anger, guilt, hope, and empathy. In the final section, we consider key implications and growth points for the field of intergroup reconciliation.

From Collective Victimhood to Social Reconciliation: Outlining a Conceptual Framework

In this introductory chapter, the authors review existing work and propose a general conceptual framework to understand the development of collective memories and narratives related to experiences of victimisation in the former Yugoslavia since the early 1990s. They address the following issues. What specific beliefs about collective victimisation and collective guilt are developing across different communities? What are their psychological, social and political functions? Are collective memories largely shared within and disputed between ethno-national groups, or are there other important social divides that structure remembrance of the conflict? To what extent are these systems of beliefs obstacles for reconciliation, social reconstruction and prevention of future cycles of violence? What elements might, on the contrary, facilitate the development of empathy across group boundaries or the acknowledgement of common values and norms? What policies are likely to make a difference in directing collective memories and narratives in the sense of either an ethos of conflict or an ethos of peace? The chapter presents the state of the art of research in this area and provides a conceptual grid to locate the relevance of the empirical contributions presented in the subsequent chapters of this section.

Fostering reconciliation through historical moral exemplars in a postconflict society.

Damaged intergroup relations in postconflict contexts marked by histories of war and human rights violations constitute a major obstacle to peace-building and reconciliation. In addition, intergroup relations tend to be affected by polarized narratives about the past that inhibit the positive consequences of ingroup contact. In this article, we examined the effects of a contact intervention containing narratives of moral exemplars on reconciliation processes in the postgenocide setting of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results from our 2 studies showed significant positive changes after the contact interventions that highlighted and focused on documented stories of individuals (moral exemplars) saving the lives of their adversaries. We found that focusing on moral exemplars increased reconciliatory beliefs due to enhanced forgiveness. The second study confirmed the positive effects of such interventions on more specific affective, cognitive and behavioral aspects of reconciliation among both former victims and perpetrators. We discuss the importance of the historical narratives used in intervention programs in postconflict settings and draw practical implications from our results.

History Education and Conflict Transformation

This volume discusses the effects, models and implications of history teaching in relation to conflict transformation and reconciliation from a social-psychological perspective. Bringing together a mix of established and young researchers and academics, from the fields of psychology, education, and history, the book provides an in-depth exploration of the role of historical narratives, history teaching, history textbooks and the work of civil society organizations in post-conflict societies undergoing reconciliation processes, and reflects on the state of the art at both the international and regional level. As well as dealing with the question of the �perpetrator-victim� dynamic, the book also focuses on the particular context of transition in and out of cold war in Eastern Europe and the post-conflict settings of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine and Cyprus. It is also exploring the pedagogical classroom practices of history teaching and a critical comparison of various possible approaches taken in educational praxis. The book will make compelling reading for students and researchers of education, history, sociology, peace and conflict studies and psychology.

Conflict Transformation and History Teaching: Social Psychological Theory and Its Contributions

The aim of this introductory chapter is to render intelligible how history teaching can be enriched with knowledge of social psychological theories that deal with the issue of conflict transformation and partcularly the notions of prejudice reduction and reconciliation. A major aim of history teaching is to engage students with historical texts, establish historical significance, identify continuity and change, analyse cause and consequence, take historical perspectives and understand the ethical dimensions of historical interpretations. Such teaching, enriched with social psychological theory, will enlarge the notion of historical literacy into a study of historical culture and historical consciousness in the classroom so that students become reflective of the role of collective memory and history teaching in processes of conflict transformation and understand the ways in which various forms of historical consciousness relate the past, present and future. This is what the editors of this volume call an interdisciplinary paradigm of transformative history teaching .

Ethnic, Religious, and National Identities among Young Bosniaks and Serbs in Minority and Majority Contexts in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The chapter presents an inquiry into the nature and the dynamics of ethnic, religious, and national identity of youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina using qualitative and quantitative methods. These identities are still very meaningful to the youth, but the salience of each identity switches in different contexts. The national majority rated national identity as being more important to them than ethnic identity, while the minority rated ethnicity as being more important than national identity. There is an almost complete overlap of religious and ethnic identity, where religion is understood as an exclusive indicator of ethnicity. The chapter discusses the potentially destructive consequences of identity politicization, finding the Bosnia and Herzegovina youth struggle between accepting the politicized forms of collective identities, and their reinterpretation to make the society harmonious for all.

Dealing with Ingroup Committed Atrocities: Moral Responsibility and Group-Based Guilt

In this chapter, I address two questions. First, I discuss the question of how people face the knowledge that their ingroup fellows have committed grave harm towards other groups. Through providing a brief empirical overview of the above question, I argue that acknowledgment of ingroup responsibility should be regarded as an important social, psychological, and political process for sustainable intergroup reconciliation (see Bar-Tal, Intractable conflicts: psychological foundations and dynamics, 2013 on peacebuilding processes). In the second part of this chapter, I discuss and analyze the relationship between two psychological processes, which might arise as a consequence of acknowledgment of ingroup responsibility. Those are personal acceptance of ingroup responsibility (as a moral response) and group-based guilt (as an emotional response). I discuss the relationship between these two constructs, not only in the light of empirical evidence from a post-conflict context in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also using the theoretical framework on societal beliefs as proposed by Bar-Tal (2000).

Coming to Terms with the Past Marked by Collective Crimes: Collective Moral Responsibility and Reconciliation

This chapter addressed a question pertinent for all post-conflict societies but particularly for those characterized by commission of massive and collective violence. The question as to how people should deal with massive human rights violations committed by their group was analyzed. It was argued that acceptance of collective (moral) responsibility is the key process for sustainable, peaceful, and democratic future. This theoretical and practical argument was followed by empirical evidence from different studies (set in the context of post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina) illustrating possible socio-psychological predictors and consequences of acknowledgment and acceptance of collective (moral) responsibility. The findings of two empirical studies demonstrated the importance of intergroup contact for the process of public acknowledgment of one’s group responsibility for committed atrocities. The findings of a third study showed that affirming a positive aspect of the self can increase one’s willingness to acknowledge ingroup responsibility for wrongdoings against others, express feelings of group-based guilt, and consequently provide greater support for reparation policies.