Original scientific paper
Prediction of Collective Guilt Assignment and Acceptance: The Role of War Trauma
Sandra PENIĆ
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb
Dinka ČORKALO BIRUŠKI
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb
Abstract
The aim of the study was to predict collective guilt assignment
and collective group acceptance based on some socio-
-demographic and socio-psychological identity variables with
regard to personal trauma caused by war experience. The
research included 411 subjects; all of them were Croats, born
between 1968 and 1974. The participants were divided in
three groups, based on their war experiences: nontraumatized
(212 subjects with no traumatic experiences), victims (80 civil
war victims), and soldiers (119 participants with fighting
experience in war). The results revealed no differences in
collective guilt among the groups. Significant predictors in
assigning collective guilt were (male) gender, (higher) ethnic
identity, and a (higher) tendency to assign group responsibility
for the deeds of an individual member. The correlation
between ethnic identity and the collective guilt assignment was
higher in the soldier sample comparing to other groups, while
the correlation between importance of religion and collective
guilt assignment was higher in the victim group. No
differences were found in the collective guilt acceptance: it was
low in all the samples. Significant predictors in accepting
collective guilt were (female) gender, (lower) ethnic identity and
a (higher) tendency to assign group responsibility.
Keywords
collective group assignment; collective group acceptance; war trauma
Hrčak ID:
42602
URI
Publication date:
30.10.2009.
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