TY - JOUR
T1 - Ameliorating War’s Shadows
T2 - The Role of War-related Memories and Meta-humanization on Intergroup Reconciliation
AU - Borinca, Islam
AU - Stathi, Sofia
AU - Gkinopoulos, Theofilos
PY - 2025/5/21
Y1 - 2025/5/21
N2 - People in post-conflict settings often carry traumatic memories that exacerbate dehumanization and obstruct reconciliation. We investigated these processes through three studies in postwar Kosovo. Study 1 (N = 200), correlational, found that disturbing war-related memories negatively predicted openness to contact and peace with former adversaries through increased meta-dehumanization and outgroup dehumanization. Study 2 (N = 201), experimental, manipulated meta-humanization and revealed an interaction between disturbing war-related memories and meta-humanization (vs. meta-dehumanization and control) on openness to contact and peace, mediated by outgroup dehumanization. Study 3 (N = 201) replicated Study 2 and extended the interaction to competitive victimhood, showing that meta-humanization reduced competitive victimhood only for individuals with low levels of disturbing war memories. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that outgroup dehumanization mediated the effect of meta-humanization on all outcomes, with stronger effects for those low (vs. high) in disturbing war memories. These findings held after controlling for prior intergroup contact.
AB - People in post-conflict settings often carry traumatic memories that exacerbate dehumanization and obstruct reconciliation. We investigated these processes through three studies in postwar Kosovo. Study 1 (N = 200), correlational, found that disturbing war-related memories negatively predicted openness to contact and peace with former adversaries through increased meta-dehumanization and outgroup dehumanization. Study 2 (N = 201), experimental, manipulated meta-humanization and revealed an interaction between disturbing war-related memories and meta-humanization (vs. meta-dehumanization and control) on openness to contact and peace, mediated by outgroup dehumanization. Study 3 (N = 201) replicated Study 2 and extended the interaction to competitive victimhood, showing that meta-humanization reduced competitive victimhood only for individuals with low levels of disturbing war memories. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that outgroup dehumanization mediated the effect of meta-humanization on all outcomes, with stronger effects for those low (vs. high) in disturbing war memories. These findings held after controlling for prior intergroup contact.
U2 - 10.1177/01461672251338559
DO - 10.1177/01461672251338559
M3 - Article
SN - 0146-1672
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
ER -