Citation

Bruneau E, Kteily N, Falk E. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2018; 44(3): 430-448.

Affiliation

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0146167217744197

PMID

29251246

Abstract

Collectively blaming groups for the actions of individuals can license vicarious retribution. Acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists against innocents, and the spikes in anti-Muslim hate crimes against innocent Muslims that follow, suggest that reciprocal bouts of collective blame can spark cycles of violence. How can this cycle be short-circuited? After establishing a link between collective blame of Muslims and anti-Muslim attitudes and behavior, we used an "interventions tournament" to identify a successful intervention (among many that failed). The "winning" intervention reduced collective blame of Muslims by highlighting hypocrisy in the ways individuals collectively blame Muslims-but not other groups (White Americans, Christians)-for individual group members' actions. After replicating the effect in an independent sample, we demonstrate that a novel interactive activity that isolates the psychological mechanism amplifies the effectiveness of the collective blame hypocrisy intervention and results in downstream reductions in anti-Muslim attitudes and anti-Muslim behavior.

Language: en

Keywords

Islamophobia; collective blame; collective responsibility; intervention; prejudice; vicarious retribution