Why groups don’t forgive: refining the contributions of ingroup identity, ingroup attachment, justice concerns, and conflict type to intergroup forgiveness

Dinnick, Iwan

Abstract

Researchers have begun to investigate the role of forgiveness in disrupting intergroup conflict and promoting peace. This thesis has refined our understanding of the ingroup identity and forgiveness relationship by determining which ingroup identity dimension (i.e., Leach et al., 2008) is most consequential for group members’ forgiveness. First, we demonstrated that previous research conflated both identity dimensions into one empirical estimate (Study 1, k = 39). In the Brexit conflict, cross-sectional (Study 2a, N = 911) and longitudinal studies (Study 2b, N = 519) provided strong evidence that self-investment (vs. self-definition) identity dimension suppressed forgiveness. Next, we integrated our refined understanding of ingroup identity with collective suffering (Study 3, N = 860). The self-investment dimension was a facilitating mechanism, and the self-definition dimension was an inhibiting mechanism, of the competitive victimhood and forgiveness relationship. Conflict type (direct vs. structural) moderated the relationships between competitive victimhood and both identity dimensions and the former and forgiveness, being stronger in direct conflicts. Next, we integrated our refined understanding of ingroup identity with the role of justice concerns (restorative, retributive, distributive, and procedural) and negative forms of ingroup attachment (ingroup glorification and collective narcissism). In a three-wave longitudinal study in post-Apartheid South Africa (Study 4, N = 491), whereas retributive and distributive justice suppressed forgiveness, restorative and procedural justice increased forgiveness. Further, the self-investment dimension increased forgiveness and collective narcissism suppressed forgiveness. Finally, we tested the causal effect of structural violence on women’s forgiveness (Study 5, N = 309). There was no causal effect of structural violence on forgiveness; the selfinvestment dimension attenuated the effect of structural violence on forgiveness. Our refined findings demonstrate that both the self-investment and self-definition dimensions of group members’ identity can have positive and negative relationships with forgiveness—highlighting the conflict-dependent nature of the ingroup identity and forgiveness relationship.

Citation

Dinnick, I. (2024). Why groups don’t forgive: refining the contributions of ingroup identity, ingroup attachment, justice concerns, and conflict type to intergroup forgiveness. (Thesis). Keele University. Retrieved from https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/775650

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Mar 15, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 15, 2024
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/775650
• Award Date: 2024-03