The lay historian explains intergroup behavior
Examining the role of identification and cognitive structuring in ethnocentric historical attributions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12905201 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Bilewicz (0000-0001-5027-1691, University of Warsaw, corresponding author), Marta Witkowska (0000-0002-4249-8447, University of Warsaw), Alexander Stefaniak (0000-0002-1706-7784, University of Warsaw), Roland Imhoff (0000-0003-0807-463X, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 310-322 |
| Publication date | 2017-06-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Memory Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1750-6980 • E-ISSN: 1750-6999 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1750698017701614 |
| OpenAlex | W2733616089 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 30 |
Both historians and lay people attempt to explain national histories. However, psychological research, to date, focused predominantly on the patterns of those explanations with regard to negative historical behaviors. In this article, we assess ethnocentrism of people’s explanations of both negative and positive historical behavior of ingroup members (own nation) and outgroup members (other nation). Two studies analyze how Poles explain crimes and heroic acts committed in the General Government, as well as diverse behaviors during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The studies confirm an ethnocentric pattern of explanation: positive historical actions of ingroup members were explained more dispositionally than positive actions of outgroup members—negative historical actions of ingroup members were explained less dispositionally than negative historical actions of outgroup members. Furthermore, we found that this effect is more pronounced among individuals who highly identify with their nation. Apart from the influence of the strength of ingroup identification, we found that people who cling to structured knowledge (i.e. a high ability to achieve cognitive closure) tend to explain well-established historical facts (e.g. the Holocaust) but not little known facts (e.g. intervention in Czechoslovakia) in a more ethnocentric way
Attribution · Cognition · Ethnocentrism · Group conflict · Ingroups and outgroups · Outgroup · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Unknowing, indifferent, or committed
Assigning moral roles within the Second World War in Europe
Remembering according to national identity and ideology
Three Fish at One Hook? Future-Oriented, Reconciliatory, and Defensive Claims for Historical Closure as Expressions of the Same Defensive Desire
Self-serving beliefs about science
Collective narcissism and in-group satisfaction predict different reactions to the past transgressions of the in-group
From socially motivated lay historians to lay censors
Conspiracy theories as part of history
Crime and Punishment
Covid-19-related conspiracy theories in China
Appealing to Moral Exemplars
Between discovery and exploitation of history
Forgetting history
Historical cognition’s dilemmas
History as the narrative of a people
When do past events require explanation? Insights from social psychology
Identifying stories of ‘us’
No differences in memory performance for instances of historical victimization and historical perpetration
Beyond victimhood and perpetration
Victim and Perpetrator Groups’ Divergent Perspectives on Collective Violence
Neighbors
Crimes of the Past
Group Identification and Historical Memory
An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion.
The psychology of interpersonal relations.
Experience and its Modes
The Nazi Dictatorship
The Ultimate Attribution Error
Functionalists vs. Intentionalists
A Three-Factor Model of Social Identity
(Nie)pamięć zbiorowa Polaków jako skuteczna regulacja emocji
History as the narrative of a people
When do past events require explanation? Insights from social psychology
From socially motivated lay historians to lay censors
Attributions of responsibility and perceived harm in the aftermath of mass violence
Attributions for the negative historical actions of a group
Morality shifting in the context of intergroup violence
Moral Immemorial
The power of we
Explaining the Inexplicable
The paradox of group-based guilt
Motivated cultural cognition
Language use in intergroup contexts
How the past weighs on the present
Need for closure and heuristic information processing
Towards an Integrated Model of Historical Explanation
Ethnocentrism and Causal Attribution in a South Indian Context
Intergroup Attributions and Ethnocentrism in the Indian Subcontinent
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,22 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |