Perspective-taking with victims makes strong identifiers deny uniformity of wrongdoing

Evidence

Evidence for a defensive reaction among higher identifiers is provided by a significant interaction between identification with being Dutch and perspective-taking of the disadvantaged group on the perceived variability measure. When asked to take the perspective of the disadvantaged group, participants indicated greater perceived variability as identification with being Dutch increased. When not asked to do so, the relation between identification with being Dutch and perceived variability approached zero. These results suggest that higher identifiers reacted defensively when asked to imagine themselves as a member of the disadvantaged group by accentuating differences in the behavior of ingroup members. As a result, the ingroup’s behavior may have been perceived as less negative and led higher identifiers to feel less guilty. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1087

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ongoing historical harms trigger defensive denial where ended ones allow acknowledgment — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1078; Perspective-taking shifts perceived similarity only among low group identifiers — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1098; Perspective taking can weaken fear-based realistic threat via induced empathy. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 166 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Perspective-taking shifts perceived similarity only among low group identifiers #contradicts (0.85) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1098