Group members feel guilt by association without personal responsibility for the harm.
Evidence
Through depersonalization, people who self-categorize as members of a group that is responsible for illegitimate harm to another group will feel ‘guilt by association’, even in the absence of a sense of personal responsibility (Branscombe, Doosje, & McGarty, 2002). Among high-status groups, the appraisal of the ingroup’s advantage as illegitimate correlates with feelings of guilt (Montada & Schneider, 1989; Schmitt, Behner, Montada, Muller, & Muller-Fohrbrodt, 2000). — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 15
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Collective guilt is felt when the self’s group illegitimately harmed another group — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 0; Group members legitimize their ingroup’s harmful actions to avoid guilt — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 53; Guilt can be felt for one’s group’s moral violations without personal responsibility — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 146 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Collective guilt can occur without any personal responsibility for the harm
#expands(0.90) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 71 - People feel guilt by association for ancestors’ deeds without direct responsibility
#expands(0.88) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1810 - Group members feel collective guilt for historical ingroup harm they did not cause.
#expands(0.86) — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations, 56 - Collective guilt is distress over ingroup immorality without legal responsibility
#expands(0.85) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 70 - Mild group identifiers feel guilty when harm is distant and done by others
#corroborates(0.78) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1069 - Vicarious group responsibility for others’ suffering triggers shame or guilt.
#expands(0.76) — Emanuele Castano, On the Perils of Glorifying the In-group, 63