<p> Can individual differences moderate the deleterious effects of nationalistic attitudes on post-conflict peacemaking? In this work we investigate the relationship between national identification and attitudes toward reconciliation as moderated by dispositional and situational empathy. We hypothesize that the relationship between the socio-ideological concept of national identity and conciliatory attitudes is moderated by an individual difference variable unrelated to group processes, dispositional empathy, as well as by state-induced empathy. We tested this hypothesis in the Balkans, which have been the theatre of two wars in the 1990s, using samples of the Serbian population, and in the U.S., which has engaged in a drone war victimizing the Pakistani people. Study 1 results demonstrate the negative impact of national identification on attitudes toward reconciliation and reveal a moderating role of trait-level perspective-taking (a key aspect of empathy) in the relationship between national identification and conciliatory attitudes. Study 2 results confirm the effects of dispositional empathy and national identification on attitudes facilitating reconciliation. However, moderating effects of trait-empathy are absent and the state-empathy induction yields results that are inconsistent with those dispositional empathy effects found in Study 1.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3626183 |
| Date | 29 August 2014 |
| Creators | Boyle, J. Patrick |
| Publisher | The New School |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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