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In March 2021, Serbia made the unprecedented announcement to offer free Covid-19 vaccination to citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and notably to Bosniaks, against whom three decades earlier Serbia had waged a bloody war. How was this policy appraised and, most importantly, did the policy appraisal impact reconciliation? We report here the results of a longitudinal investigation amid a representative sample of Bosniak youth (N = 450). Results suggest that a positive appraisal of this actual, state-level policy, predicted improvement on a series of intergroup reconciliation indicators (e.g., trust in the out-group, forgiveness for past violence, hope for future relationship), particularly so amid those who are strongly attached to their Bosniak in-group.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is accompanied by horrific losses among civilians. This study investigates various individual (hope, optimism, resilience, post-traumatic growth, and coping strategies) and contextual predictors (experience of life under occupation, actively hostile home environment, and frequent moves) of subjective well-being among the youth living in Ukraine. A total sample of 593 students from several universities participated in the study using surveys that contained questions about sociodemographic characteristics, life satisfaction, hope, optimism, personal post-traumatic growth, resilience, and coping strategies. Data were analyzed using JAMOVI software. The level of dissatisfaction with their own lives was 34.7%; most of the respondents had a higher incidence of minimal/mild hopelessness (88.7%) and high/moderate level of optimism (60.9%). The majority of participants had moderate and high levels of post-traumatic growth (51.9% and 6.7%, respectively) and resilience (46.0% and 14.5%, respectively). Optimism, hope, resilience, post-traumatic growth, using emotional support, and life in occupation predicted life satisfaction among the study sample., Research was performed within the framework of the project “Young Ukrainians' Experiences and Perspectives of the Russia–Ukraine War. A Mixed-Methods Investigation on How to Promote Resilience and Sustainable Peacebuilding” and was supported by Small Grant Award, APA Division 48, The Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence.

Information about ingroup moral violations against outgroups evoke defensiveness resulting in low support for reparations to be provided to members of these groups. Yet it remains unknown if reminders of ingroup harmdoings could also enhance moral engagement rather than disengagement. In this paper, we report experimental evidence from three studies (ns = 625) set in the context of historical atrocities committed against indigenous people in Sweden demonstrating that high importance of individuals’ moral identity led to increased prosocial behaviors benefiting the outgroup (reparations and outgroup monetary donation). The positive effects of moral identity on reparations and outgroup donation were independent and remained significant after controlling for group-based guilt, which is a known predictor of willingness to provide reparations. Furthermore, our research identified a pathway of affirming individuals’ moral identity through stories of ingroup moral exemplars. Participants who learned about morally admirable behaviors performed by their ingroup fellows were more likely to endorse and engage in prosocial behaviors benefiting the outgroup. These effects were driven by an increased importance of participants’ moral identity. Establishing ways of affirming threatened moral identity and, in that way, facilitating more prosocial and moral actions is important for contexts with a history of human right violations.

Stories about moral exemplars can provide crucial information about the moral heterogeneity of social groups involved in the conflict. This article addresses the role of moral exemplars narratives in changing perceptions of violent historic intergroup conflicts. We propose that two central outcomes of such interventions make them potentially an effective approach for improving intergroup relations in situations of violent intergroup conflict: (1) facilitation of intergroup contact and (2) increasing reconciliatory attitudes. Although most of the existing research on moral exemplars is focused on their positive outcomes, we suggest that moral exemplars might also have destructive consequences: they could be misused to gain an advantage in an intergroup conflict and might stress the immorality of the non-helping majority. By integrating these two possibilities, we propose a curvilinear model of the effects of moral exemplars narratives in post-conflict reconciliation and resolution of violent conflicts., This work was funded by the Polish National Science Centre grant [no 2017/26/E/HS6/00129] awarded to Michał Bilewicz.

Moral exemplar interventions have been shown to increase many positive intergroup outcomes, including perceptions of outgroup morality. However, existing research on moral exemplar interventions has only been conducted in post-conflict contexts. This study investigates the effects of a moral exemplar intervention on outgroup evaluations in a non-conflict context. By examining the effects on three key dimensions of outgroup evaluations (morality, sociability, and competence) in Sweden, we aim to extend the generalizability of moral exemplar interventions. An online experiment was conducted with self-identified Swedes (N = 193) to explore the effects of outgroup (Middle Eastern) moral versus neutral exemplars. Results indicate that moral exemplar stories increased perceptions of outgroup morality while not significantly affecting perceived outgroup competence or sociability. These findings support the hypothesis that moral exemplars influence a specific positive dimension of outgroup evaluations, namely perceptions of morality, rather than any positive dimension such as sociability or competence. The present study also gives tentative support for the applicability of moral exemplar interventions in contexts and settings with no recent history of collective violence.

Research on common-ingroup identity has mainly focused on consequences and potential benefits of inclusive social categorizations. However, very little is yet known about processes and conditions that could facilitate such inclusive social categorizations. In this paper, with four studies (N = 582) set in a post-conflict context of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with members of two ethnic groups (Bosniaks and Serbs), we have demonstrated how perceptions of intergroup moral similarity can act as an important precursor of common-ingroup identity at the national level. We report both cross-sectional as well as experimental evidence demonstrating how perceptions of intergroup moral similarity boost common-ingroup identifications in socially relevant context using members of real adversary social groups. Moreover, we show that learning about outgroups' morally admirable behaviours can facilitate inclusive social categorizations.

Reparations benefiting victim group members are rare. In this work, we report experimental evidence from three studies set in the context of historical atrocities committed against Indigenous people in Sweden demonstrating that affirming individuals’ moral identity through stories of ingroup moral exemplars led to increased prosocial behaviours benefiting outgroup members.

Two studies examined how intergroup contact in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) corresponds with shifts in intergroup attitudes and broader construals of intergroup relations in society. In Study 1, youth in Bosnia-Herzegovina from diverse ethnic backgrounds (n = 122) responded to a survey about their contact experiences, intergroup attitudes, and perceptions of relations between ethnic groups in BiH. Study 1 demonstrated that among Bosnian youth, more frequent positive intergroup contact significantly predicted more positive attitudes toward ethnic outgroup members (e.g., outgroup trust, closeness, empathy, humanization, and willingness for future contact), but did not predict holding more positive broader construals of relations between ethnic groups in BiH (e.g., as enemies or allies). Study 2 used a pre–post design to replicate and extend these findings by evaluating the effects of a week-long “Peace Camp” Intervention that brought together youth from diverse ethnic backgrounds (n = 43). This study found that youth reported significantly more positive attitudes following the Peace Camp Intervention; however, there were no significant pre–post differences in youths’ construals of relations between ethnic groups. Taken together, these findings indicate that, in contexts of ethnic conflict, intergroup contact may have greater effects on measures that tap into intergroup attitudes toward ethnic outgroups than on measures that assess their broader construals of relations between groups in society.

Direct comparisons of reactions on both sides of a collective political apology, within the same study, are rare in published research. We report two studies conducted contemporaneously with past apologies that focused on satisfaction and group-relevant outcomes of the apology. Study 1 surveyed English (apologizing group) and Irish nationalist (recipient group) respondents (N = 99) about the British apology in 2010 for the Bloody Sunday massacre. Study 2 surveyed Bosniaks (recipient group), Serbians in Belgrade, and Bosnian Serbs (apologizing groups; total N = 184) about a Serbian apology in 2013 for the Srebrenica massacre. In Study 1, apologizers showed greater satisfaction than recipients, in line with their higher evaluations of the apology’s goal fulfillment. But in Study 2, apologizers were less satisfied than recipients, even as they perceived higher empowerment of recipients and more shifting of obligation to them. In both settings, satisfaction was predicted across samples by perceptions of how well the apology met image improvement, obligation shifting, and recipient empowerment goals, with no significant moderation by group. These findings, as with other recent research, challenge the group differences implicit in the needs-based model and suggest that the bases for satisfaction with conciliatory acts may not be as different as assumed between sides of a recent conflict.

Social-psychological research has established the importance of positive emotions for creating and maintaining positive intergroup relations in contexts affected or threatened by conflict (intergroup reconciliation). Building on existing body of evidence, we conceptualised intergroup reconciliation as a process aimed at regulating negative intergroup emotions such as hatred and creating more positive and relationship functional emotions such as trust. This review presents theoretical and empirical insights into the emotion regulation perspective on intergroup reconciliation. Regulation of negative intergroup emotions amongst youths affected by conflict is feasible through social-psychological interventions.

The efforts of peace-building and reconciliation between historical enemies are faced with many structural and psychological obstacles. Scholars have identified mechanisms that can induce improvements in psychological aspects of intergroup relations, such as intergroup contact. However, establishing direct contact with everyone is impossible. Therefore, the mass media represents an important source through which groups learn about each other. Numerous studies have shown that stereotypical and often negative portrayals of specific social groups through the media produce or reinforce negative intergroup outcomes. In this research, the authors report results from an experimental study conducted in a post-conflict society of Bosnia and Herzegovina (N = 119). It examined the effects of stereotypical and counter-stereotypical representations of former enemy groups (Bosniaks) through the media on intergroup behavior (reported by Bosnian Serbs). More specifically, in this research the authors explored the effects of representing out-group individuals as immoral (the stereotypical condition) and moral (the counter-stereotypical condition) on specific behavioral tendencies toward the historical enemy group. The results indicate that exposure to primarily moral information about the out-group target facilitated important positive intergroup outcomes. This study extends the literature and research on moral exemplars by demonstrating the effects on relevant intergroup outcomes whilst utilizing current (vs. historical) moral exemplar stories., Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, RIK 19-1296:3

A history of intergroup conflict threatens the basic sense of in-group and out-group morality. This poses a severe obstacle to reconciliation both on socioemotional (by constraining forgiveness and generating dysfunctional intergroup emotions) and on instrumental (by constraining contact opportunities and effectiveness) levels. We argue and review research on how learning about others' moral behavior can contribute to intergroup reconciliation processes. Acknowledging the central role of morality in individual and group perceptions, we propose a new model of reconciliation grounded in research on moral exemplars. Moral exemplars are examples of individual heroic behavior crossing group borders (out-group members engage in rescuing in-group members and in-group members rescuing out-group members). We demonstrate how intergroup relations in post conflict societies can be improved through learning about moral exemplars. Based on studies and interventions performed in multiple postgenocide and postconflict settings, we suggest that learning about moral exemplars effectively regulates intergroup relations by enabling forgiveness and contact after mass atrocities. We delineate specific policy-relevant recommendations that may be applied by practitioners working in societies that have been affected by historical crimes.

One of the main obstacles to the cultivation of historical thinking, in post-conflict societies, is adherence to the official master narratives of conflict. We argue based on empirical evidence from three post-conflict settings (Cyprus , Serbia and Croatia ) that such representations of the past and their uncritical internalization that leads to adherence to master narratives of conflict constructs a threatened self and generates distrust towards the outgroup. Such a mentality becomes a major obstacle to conflict transformation and to a peaceful settlement of intercommunal conflicts.