Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:28:41.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Shared Past and a Common Future: The Portuguese Colonial War and the Dynamics of Group-Based Guilt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Ana Figueiredo ,
Joaquim Valentim  and
Bertjan Doosje
Ana Figueiredo*
Affiliation:
Universidade de Coimbra, (Portugal)
Joaquim Valentim
Affiliation:
Universidade de Coimbra, (Portugal)
Bertjan Doosje
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam (The Neerderlands)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ana Figueiredo. Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação. Universidade de Coimbra. Rua do Colégio Novo. Apartado 61533001-802 Coimbra. (Portugal). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the present study we examine feelings of group-based guilt among Portuguese people in relation to the Portuguese colonial war, and their consequences for social behaviour. Specifically, we focus on the way Portuguese university students identify with their national group and the outgroup and their feelings of group-based guilt regarding their group's past misdeeds during the colonial period. The consequences of group-based guilt are also analyzed. 130 Portuguese university students answered a questionnaire and results show that students feel low levels of group-based guilt in relation to this period. Our results show that ingroup glorification is positively related with the use of cognitions to justify the ingroup's behaviour, presumably to avoid responsibility for the harm committed by the ingroup. Outgroup identification correlates with compensatory behavioural intentions and openness to negative information about the colonial war. As expected, feelings of group-based guilt show a significant correlation with compensatory behavioural intentions. Links between political orientation, ingroup attachment and glorification, exonerating cognitions and group-based guilt are analyzed and their implications for intergroup relations are discussed.

En el presente estudio se examinan los sentimientos de culpa colectiva entre los portugueses en relación a la guerra colonial portuguesa, y sus consecuencias en el comportamiento social. En concreto, nos centramos en la manera en que los estudiantes universitarios portugueses se identifican con su grupo nacional y el exogrupo y sus sentimientos de culpa colectiva con respecto a los errores de su grupo durante el período colonial. Las consecuencias de la culpa colectiva también  han sido analizadas. 130 estudiantes universitarios portugueses respondieron a un cuestionario y los resultados muestran que los estudiantes presentan bajos niveles de culpa colectiva en relación a este período. Nuestros resultados muestran que la glorificación del intragrupo está positivamente relacionada con el uso de cogniciones para justificar el comportamiento del propio grupo, así como para, presumiblemente, evitar la responsabilidad por los daños cometidos por el grupo nacional. La identificación con el exogrupo se correlaciona con la intención de compensación y con la apertura a la información negativa acerca de la guerra colonial. Como era de esperar, los sentimientos de culpa colectiva muestran una correlación significativa con la intención de compensación. Las relaciones entre orientación política, el apego y la glorificación del intragrupo, las cogniciones exonerantes y la culpa colectiva, así como sus implicaciones para las relaciones intergrupales serán discutidas.

Keywords

group-based guiltmodes of national identificationperceived importance of informationoutgroup identificationcompensationculpa colectivamodos de identificación nacionalimportancia subjetiva de informaciónidentificación con el exogrupocompensación
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , May 2011 , pp. 163 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barkan, E. (2000). The guilt of nations — restitution and negotiating historical injustices. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Barkan, E. (2004). Individual versus group rights in Western philosophy and the Law. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 309–319). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R., Stillwell, A., & Heatherton, T. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 112(2), 243–267. doi:10.10370033-2909.115.2.243CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branscombe, N. (2004). A social psychological process perspective on collective guilt. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 320–332). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branscombe, N., & Doosje, B. (2004). International perspectives on the experience of collective guilt. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 3–15). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branscombe, N., Doosje, B., & McGarty, C. (2003). Antecedents and consequences of collective guilt. In Mackie, D. & Smith, E. (Eds.), From prejudice to intergroup emotions (pp. 49–66). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Branscombe, N., Slugoski, B., & Kappen, D. (2004). The measurement of collective guilt: what it is and what it is not. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 16–34). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doosje, B., Branscombe, N., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. (1998). Guilty by association: when one's group has a negative history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(4), 872–886. doi:10.10370022-3514.75.4.872CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doosje, B., Branscombe, N., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. (2004). Consequences of national ingroup identification for responses to immoral historical events. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 95–111). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iyer, A., Leach, C., & Crosby, F. (2003). White guilt and racial compensation: The benefits and limits of self-focus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(1), 117–129. doi:10.1177/0146167202238377CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leach, C., Zimeren, M., Zebel, S., Vliek, M., Pennekamp, S., Doosje, B., … Spears, R. (2008). Group-level self-definition and self-investment: A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(1), 144–165. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.144CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lickel, B., Schmader, T., & Barquissau, M. (2004). The evocation of moral emotions in intergroup contexts: The distinction between collective guilt and collective shame. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp.35–55). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, D., Silver, L., & Smith, E. (2004). Intergroup emotions: Emotion as an intergroup phenomenon. In Tiedens, L. & Leach, C. (Eds.), The social life of emotions (pp. 227–245). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallett, R., & Swim, J. (2004). Collective guilt in the United States: Predicting support for social policies that alleviate social injustice. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 56–74). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marques, J., Paez, D., & Serra, A. F. (1997). Social sharing, emotional climate, and the transgenerational transmission of memories: The Portuguese colonial war. In Pennebaker, J. W. Paez, D., & Rime, B. (Eds.), Collective memory of political events (pp. 253–275). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
McGarty, C., & Bliuc, A. (2004). Refining the meaning of the “collective” in collective guilt: Harm, guilt, and apology in Australia. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 112–129). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettigrew, T. F., & Meertens, R. W. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57–75. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420250106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rensmann, L. (2004). Collective guilt, national identity and political processes in comtemporary Germany. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 169–190). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roccas, S., Klar, Y., & Liviatan, I. (2004). Exonerating cognitions, group identification, and personal values as predictors of collective guilt among jewish-israelis. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 130–147). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roccas, S., Klar, Y., & Liviatan, I. (2006). The paradox of group-based guilt: Modes of national identification, conflict vehemence, and reactions to the ingroup's moral violations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(4), 698–711. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.698CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, E. R. (1993). Social identity and social emotions: Toward new conceptualization of prejudice. In Mackie, D. M. & Hamilton, D. L. (Eds.), Affect, cognition and stereotyping (pp. 297–315). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spini, D., Elecheroth, G., & Fasel, R. (2008). The impact of group norms and generalization of risks across groups on judgements of war behavior. Political Psychology, 29(6), 919–941. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2008.00673.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup conflict. In Worchel, S. & Austin, W. G. (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar
Vala, J., Brito, R., & Lopes, D. (1999). Expressões do racismo em Portugal [Expressions of racism in Portugal]. Lisboa: Imprensa de Ciências Sociais.Google Scholar
Vala, J., Lopes, D., & Lima, M. (2008). Black immigrants in Portugal: Luso-tropicalism and prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 64(2), 287–302. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00562.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentim, J. P. (2003). Identidade e lusofonia nas representações sociais de portugueses e de africanos ]Identity and lusophony in the social representations of Portuguese and Africans]. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.Google Scholar
Valentim, J. P, & Doise, W. (2008). De um estado de facto a um estado de direito: elementos de psicologia social normativa [From a state of fact to a state of right: elements of normative social psychology]. In Fonseca, A. C. (Ed.), Psicologia e Justiça (pp. 37–77). Coimbra: Nova Almedina.Google Scholar
Wohl, M., & Branscombe, N. (2004). Importance of social categorization for forgiveness and collective guilt assignment for the Holocaust. In Branscombe, N. & Doosje, B. (Eds.), Collective Guilt — International perspectives (pp. 284–305). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wohl, M., Branscombe, N., & Klar, Y. (2006). Collective guilt: Emotional reactions when one's group has done wrong or been wronged. European Review of Social Psychology, 17, 1–37. doi:10.1080/10463280600574815CrossRefGoogle Scholar