Editorial
A large amount of research has shown that emotions play a crucial role in intergroup relations. Anxiety, following from the expectation of being negatively evaluated, decreases the desire to interact with outgroup members. Anger, elicited by moral violations, evokes aggressive behaviors toward the outgroup. Forgiveness promotes reconciliation. Trust feelings reduce prejudice and outgroup dehumanization. The contributions of the current special issue consider different emotions, such as empathy and disgust, gratitude and forgiveness.
Paterson, Brown, and Walters’s article examines intergroup emotions in the field of hate crimes perpetrated against LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Trans) individuals, showing that perceived similarity with the victim relates to a mix of positive (empathy) and negative (anxiety, anger, and shame) feelings. This emotional pattern is then conducive to behavioral intentions linked to the defense of the LGBT community. Rozich, Kenworthy, Voci, and Hewstone investigate the role of trust in Northern Ireland, demonstrating that this feeling, experienced toward the outgroup community (Catholics or Protestants), mediates, independently of other intergroup emotions, the relations between intergroup contact and action tendencies.
Forgiveness in the context of the Armenian genocide – perpetrated by the Turks between 1915 and 1917 – is the subject of Beneda, Witkowska, Khachatryan, Grigoryan, and Bilewicz’s contribution. In two studies, these Authors demonstrate that the exposure to narratives about historical moral exemplars increases the perception of morality of the perpetrator outgroup (the Turks) and of its descendants. This change in perceived morality leads to stronger willingness to forgive. These positive effects are only observed when moral exemplars are viewed as typical members of the outgroup.
In their article, Birtel, Vezzali, and Stathi review the research regarding the affective outcomes of extended contact (i.e., the knowledge that an ingroup member has close relationships with an outgroup member). The studies reviewed show that this type of indirect contact has powerful effects on various affective measures of intergroup relations; emotions, in turn, mediate the relationship between contact and outgroup attitudes.
Disgust is the intergroup emotion investigated by Valtorta and Volpato. These Authors distinguish between moral and physical disgust. In an experiment, they observed that, as expected, physical disgust is associated with avoidance behaviors, while moral disgust is associated with aggressive behaviors against moral violators. Interestingly, the two types of disgust are related to distinct forms of dehumanization: physical disgust is related to biologization and moral disgust to animalization.
Shaojing Sun examines how Chinese people respond to Japanese victims of a natural disaster. Findings show that altruistic behaviors toward outgroup members depend on the different pattern of media information processing: systematic or heuristic. Systematic processing leads to prosocial behaviors because it elicits feelings of empathy, which in turn favor altruistic helping.
Wice, Howe, and Goyal finally explore cultural variability in perceived gratitude. Gratitude gestures, given in response to a benefit, increase the perception of gratitude and the disposition to help a second time among European Americans, but not among Indians. According to the Authors, these findings depend on cultural norms of reciprocity. In multicultural societies, cultural integration entails the knowledge of other groups’ norm.
The last article (by Maiolo and Zuffo) is not included in the special issue. It is related to the other articles concerning trust in organizational settings.
