Citation

Szabó ZP, Mészáros NZ, Csertő I. Front. Psychol. 2017; 8: e912.

Affiliation

Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Hungarian Academy of SciencesBudapest, Hungary.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00912

PMID

28620333

PMCID

PMC5450564

Abstract

Three studies examined how members of a national group react to in-group wrongdoings. We expected that perceived in-group moral superiority would lead to unwillingness to repair the aggression. We also expected that internal-focused emotions such as group-based guilt and group-based shame would predict specific, misdeed-related reparative intentions but not general approach motivation toward the victim groups. In Study 1, facing the in-group's recent aggression, participants who believed that the Hungarians have been more moral throughout their history than members of other nations, used more exonerating cognitions, experienced less in-group critical emotions and showed less willingness to provide reparations for the members of the victim group. Study 2 and Study 3 confirmed most findings of Study 1. Perceived in-group moral superiority directly or indirectly reduced willingness to provide either general or specific reparations, while internally focused in-group critical emotions predicted specific misdeed-related reparative intentions but not general approach motivation. The role of emotional attachment to the in-group is considered.

Language: en

Keywords

: moral superiority; emotional attachment to the in-group; exonerating cognitions; group-based emotions; reparation