Harmful Memories—Present Dynamics: The Heroic Helper’s Effect on Collective and Individual Responsibility and Prejudice

Bigazzi, Sára and Csernus, Fanni and Serdült, Sára and Takács, Bálint and Bokrétás, Ildikó and Géczy, Dorottya (2019) Harmful Memories—Present Dynamics: The Heroic Helper’s Effect on Collective and Individual Responsibility and Prejudice. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7 (9). pp. 176-206. ISSN 2327-5960

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Abstract

This study was aimed at testing if exposure to a narrative about a heroic helper,can increment responsibility—taking about past ingroup wrongdoings and reduce prejudice and intergroup hostility in the present. We used the narrative of a Hungarian hero in an experiment who acted for targets of the Holocaust in Hungary, and measured if this narrative might increase collective responsibility for the Holocaust, decrease Hungarians’ hostile attitudes towards the Jewish minority, and this effect could be expanded to ongoing conflicts with other minorities. We used an experimental group (N = 99) exposed to the narrative, and a control group (N = 101) that was not. Both groups completed a test-battery measuring national identification, empathy,responsibility-taking, and prejudice. Data were analyzed with SPSS, and open-ended questions were content—analyzed by four independent coders. Results show that learning about a heroic helper increased acceptance of responsibility for the Holocaust and empathic abilities, whereas these effects were not generalized to current intergroup relations.

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