Group-Based Guilt and Shame and Outgroup Attitudes in Russian Context

This research explores group-based emotions of guilt and shame in the Russian context. The aim was to reveal the relations between these emotions and outgroup attitudes in individuals with different degrees of collective identity strength. The survey was carried out on the sample of Russian people (N = 89; 53,9% females; average age 35 years). The respondents were asked to answer questions concerning their experiences of group-based emotions of guilt, moral shame and image shame in relation to the deportation of Chechen and Ingush populations of the Northern Caucasus during the World War II. We measured outgroup attitudes towards groups both related (Caucasus populations) and unrelated (migrants) to emotion-provoking events; general attitude towards multiculturalism; and strength of collective identity. The results show that the experiences of guilt and moral shame are positively correlated both with the attitudes towards Caucasus populations (0,396*** and 0,304*** respectively) and with the attitudes towards migrants (0,330*** and 0,322*** respectively). Image shame is positively correlated only with the attitudes to migrants (0,326**). It was also found that collective identity moderates these relations: there were no correlations found between emotions and attitudes in the group of subjects with stronger collective identity.

1. Efremova M.V., Grigoryan L.K. Kollektivnye emotsii viny i styda: obzor sovremennykh issledovanii [The Collective Emotions of Guilt and Shame: a Review of Current Research]. Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psikhologiya [Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology], 2014. Vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 71—88. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
2. Allport G.W. The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books, 1954. 537 p.
3. Allpress J., Barlow F., Brown R., Louis W. Atoning for colonial injustices: Group-based shame and guilt motivate support for reparation. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 2010. Vol. 4 (1), pp. 75—88.
4. Allpress J.A., Brown R., Giner-Sorolla R., Deonna J.A., Teroni F. Two Faces of Group-Based Shame: Moral Shame and Image Shame Differentially Predict Positive and Negative Orientations to Ingroup Wrongdoing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2014. Vol. 40 (10), pp. 1270—1284. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214540724
5. Breugelmans S.M., Van de Vijver F.J.R. Antecedents and components of majority attitudes toward multiculturalism in the Netherlands. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 2004. Vol. 53 (3), pp. 400—422. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2004.00177.x
6. Brown R., Cehajic S. Dealing with the past and facing the future: Mediators of the effects of collective guilt and shame in Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2008. Vol. 36 (4), pp. 669—684. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.466
7. Branscombe N.R., Doosje B. (eds.) Collective guilt: International perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 356 p. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139106931
8. Doosje B., Branscombe N., Spears R., Manstead A. Guilt by Association: When One’s Group has a negative history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998. Vol. 75 (4), pp. 872—886. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.872
9. Ferguson T. Mapping shame and its functions in relationships. Child Maltreatment, 2005. Vol. 10 (4), pp. 377—386. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559505281430
10. Iyer A., Schmader T., Lickel B. Why individuals protest the perceived transgressions of their country: The role of anger, shame and guilt. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2007. Vol. 33 (4), pp. 572—587. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206297402
11. Lewis M. Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt. In Lewis M., Haviland J.M. (eds.), Handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford Press, 1993, pp. 563—573.
12. Lickel B., Schmader T., Curtis M., Scarnier M., Ames D. Vicarious shame and guilt. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 2005. Vol. 8 (2), pp. 145—157. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430205051064
13. Lickel B., Steele R., Schmader T. Group-based shame and guilt: Emerging directions in research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2011. Vol. 5 (3), pp. 153—163. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00340.x
14. Niedenthal P., Tangney J., Gavanski I. Distinguishing shame and guilt in counterfactual thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1994. Vol. 67 (4), pp. 585—595. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.585
15. Pedersen A., Beven J., Griffiths B., Walker I. Attitudes toward Indigenous Australians: The role of empathy and guilt. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 2004. Vol. 14 (4), pp. 233 — 249. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.771
16. Rees J.H., Allpress J.A., Brown R. Nie wieder: Group-based emotions for ingroup wrongdoing affect attitudes toward unrelated minorities. Political Psychology, 2013. Vol. 34 (3), pp. 387—407. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12003
17. Shepherd L., Spears R., Manstead A. This will bring the shame on our nation: The role of anticipated group-based emotions on collective action. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, 2013. Vol. 49 (1), pp. 42—57. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.07.011
18. Verkuyten M. Ethnic Group Identification and Group Evaluation Among Minority and Majority Groups: Testing the Multiculturalism Hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005. Vol. 88 (1), pp. 121—138. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.1.121