Forgive and Forget? Antecedents and Consequences of Intergroup Forgiveness in Bosnia and Herzegovina

By Sabina Čehajić, Rupert Brown, Emanuele Castano. 2008

343 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The present study examines the effects of contact and common-ingroup identification on intergroup forgiveness and outgroup behavioral tendencies. A sample of Bosnian Muslims (N = 180) were asked to report their readiness to forgive the misdeeds committed by Bosnian Serbs during the 199295 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A path analysis of the presumed antecedents and consequences of forgiveness revealed that frequent and good quality contact with members from the perpetrator group predicted forgiveness (positively) and desire for social distance (negatively). Moreover, the positive relationship between contact and forgiveness was mediated by empathy and trust towards the outgroup and by perceived outgroup heterogeneity. Common-ingroup identification was also found to be positively associated with forgiveness and negatively with social distance towards the outgroup. Finally, intergroup forgiveness also predicted social distance from the outgroup. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

Subfields: Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cfd3095450c7b5203c4bd3657bfda66629e9b24e

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Citations in the corpus

What do I Care? Perceived Ingroup Responsibility and Dehumanization as Predictors of Empathy Felt for the Victim Group (2009, background): “In addition, individuals with extensive contact with outgroup members seem to develop more empathy (Čehajić et al., 2008; Ensari & Miller, 2002; Harwood, Hewstone, Paolini, & Voci, 2005) and so might also be less likely to defend the self and/or the ingroup and hence be less likely to employ a…”
The Role of Empathy and Compassion in Conflict Resolution (2019, background): “Conversely, the degree of empathy (comprising aspects of perspective taking and cognitive empathy) that Bosnian Muslims reported toward Bosnian Serbs was one of the mediators between good and frequent intergroup contact and forgiveness (Cehajic et al., 2008).”
Cross-Group Friendships and Intergroup Attitudes (2011, background): “In a second example, Cehajic, Brown, and Castano (2008) investigated the impact of cross-group friendship in a very serious context for intergroup reconciliation: the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (mean r = .491).”
Social-Psychological Interventions for Intergroup Reconciliation: An Emotion Regulation Perspective (2016, background): “…together descendants of groups involved or affected by conflict in a safe, supported environment seems to be a strategy embedded in peace-building and reconciliation-oriented processes ( Cehaji c et al., 2008; Hewstone, Cairns, Voci, Hamberger, & Niens, 2006; Noor, Brown, & Prentice, 2008).”
Intergroup reconciliation: Instrumental and socio-emotional processes and the needs-based model (2015, background): “, 2008), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Cehajic et al., 2008), and Cyprus (Psaltis, 2011), found that one of the key mediators of the effect of intergroup contact on reducing prejudice and promoting positive mutual behavioural tendencies was out-group trust.”
Direct, extended, and mass-mediated contact with immigrants in Italy: their associations with emotions, prejudice, and humanity perceptions (2017, background): “Indeed, research has shown that trust in the outgroup mediated the effects of direct contact on forgiveness (Čehajić et al., 2008) and behavioural tendencies (Kenworthy et al., 2016; Tam et al., 2009).”
We are sorry: Intergroup apologies and their tenuous link with intergroup forgiveness (2013, background): “This is consistent with the literature on the effects of contact on both intergroup bias (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006) and intergroup forgiveness specifically (Cehajic et al., 2008; Hewstone et al., 2004, 2006; Moeschberger et al., 2005).”
Toward a theory of transformative entrepreneuring: Poverty reduction and conflict resolution in Rwanda's entrepreneurial coffee sector (2013, background): “associated with conflict resolution (Cehajic et al., 2008).”
Reducing Competitive Victimhood in Kosovo: The Role of Extended Contact and Common Ingroup Identity (2012, methodology): “To reduce the highly skewed distribution of such an index (skew = 2.57), we performed a root square transformation (see Čehajić et al., 2008) which resulted in a remarkable decrease of the skew of the distribution (skew = .80). injured due to armed conflicts.””