Adopting the perpetrator’s perspective reverses which identifiers feel most guilty

Evidence

A marginally significant interaction emerged between ingroup identi- fication and the perspective-taking of the perpetrator group on feelings of collective guilt. As shown in Figure 1, there was a negative relation between identification with being Dutch and collective guilt in the perspective condition, but a positive relation in the no perspective condition. These results support our prediction that for lower identifiers, taking the perspective of their own perpetrator group can make the harmful actions of ingroup members more salient and make them feel more guilty compared to when not instructed to take the perpetrator group’s perspective. In contrast, for higher identifiers, taking the perpetrator group’s perspective does not result in stronger feelings of collective guilt. If anything, taking this perspective leads them to feel somewhat less guilty, although the difference with the no perspective condition is small. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1065

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Guilt differences between high and low identifiers emerge only on ambiguous history — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 695; Imagining the perpetrator’s viewpoint raises guilt only in low identifiers — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1061; The source of disapproval reverses who feels most collective guilt — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 721 (+4 more)