Defensive Germans superficially accept guilt while warding off latent responsibility

Evidence

A second cluster of participants also showed strong defensive responses and mechanisms. They tried to ignore and repress questions of German guilt because it is allegedly “useless to go over it again.” Feelings of uneasiness evoked by discussions of Holocaust history cause expressions of selfpity. Those willing to commemorate the crimes are seen as “unjust.” There seems to be little ability to take the perspective of the victims or consider the atrocities’ effects on survivors. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1180

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Confronting national guilt openly fosters rather than hinders democratization — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1229; Amidst guilt feelings, Germans attribute the guilt demand to a hostile outside world — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1181; Attachment to the in-group predicts guilt while glorification predicts defensiveness — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt: Modes…, 7 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Perceived in-group moral violations trigger defensive cognitive distortions. #corroborates (0.88) — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt, 46
• Attachment to the in-group predicts guilt while glorification predicts defensiveness #corroborates (0.85) — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt, 7
• Perceiving a group’s wrongdoing as situationally justifiable blocks collective guilt #corroborates (0.82) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 297
• Conflict escalation lowers group-based guilt and raises exonerating cognitions over time. #corroborates (0.80) — Sonia Roccas and Yechiel Klar and Ido Liviatan, The Paradox of Group-Based Guilt, 87
• Ongoing conflict frames ingroup guilt as unaffordable luxury and betrayal #corroborates (0.80) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 989
• The ingroup’s own suffering suppresses guilt even when it sees itself as responsible #corroborates (0.75) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 2145