Indigenous reconciliation in Australia: do values, identity and collective guilt matter?

Abstract

This paper reports an investigation of the impact of shared values and identities on Australian attitudes towards Indigenous reconciliation across two studies. In Study 1, University students were assigned to one of two conditions in which they completed a questionnaire that measured their value priorities and reconciliation attitudes; either as an individual or as an Australian. As expected, the value of egalitarianism was the strongest predictor of reconciliation attitudes, especially under the Australian condition. In Study 2, participants from the general community were assigned into conditions that manipulated identity (personal vs. Australian) and views of how Indigenous Australians have been treated by Europeans in the past (favourable vs. unfavourable). Under these conditions, participants were asked to report their level of collective guilt and reconciliation views. The results showed that collective guilt was stronger under the unfavourable than the favourable history condition but only when personal identity was salient. The findings also showed some support for the proposition that reconciliation views would be most positive under the unfavourable history condition when Australian identity was salient. The implications of the findings for advancing the progress of indigenous reconciliation in Australia are discussed.

No Time Like The Present: Determinants Of Intentions To Engage In Bystander Anti-Racism On Behalf Of Indigenous Australians

“…In line with previous research, greater levels of collective guilt were associated with a greater likelihood to engage in bystander anti-racism (e.g., Doosje et al, 1998;Halloran, 2007;Pedersen & Thomas, 2012), as was greater empathic concern (e.g., Eisenberg & Miller, 1987;Karancanta & Fitness, 2006;Pedersen & Thomas, 2012;Oswald, 1996). In other words, participants who experienced higher levels of guilt on behalf of their ingroup with respect to the past and present mistreatment of Indigenous Australians, and who reported greater levels of concern for the welfare of Indigenous Australians, were more likely to speak up against their discrimination.…”

“…Collective guilt has been shown to predict support for gay and lesbian anti-violence programmes (Karacanta & Fitness, 2006), the compensation of Indonesians in regards to disadvantage ensuing from Dutch colonisation (Doosje et al, 1998), government apology with respect to Australia's history of discrimination towards Indigenous Australians (McGarty et al, 2005, Studies 1 and 2), reconciliatory attitudes and behaviours within the context of Indigenous Australian history (Halloran, 2007), and reparation attitudes with respect to the Indigenous Chilean history (Brown, Gonzalez, Zagefka, Manzi, & Cehajic, 2008). More recently, Pedersen and Thomas (2012) reported that collective guilt was one of the two emotions most cited by participants when reading about racial discrimination scenarios.…”

Bienestar, Valores y Clima Emocional en Personas Expuestas a Procesos de Violencia Política en Ayacucho, Perú

“…Intragrupalmente, la exposición de los jóvenes a la violencia colectiva se ha relacionado con cambios interpersonales vinculados con la solidaridad y benevolencia endogrupal y un mayor compromiso con la ideología política dominante (Calderón Prada, Espinosa & Techio, 2004;Conejero & Etxebarria, 2007). Halloran (2007), además, encontró que valores igualitarios, universalistas y de baja conformidad funcionarían como predictores de la reconciliación intergrupal, especialmente ante identidades salientes en espacios de contacto intergrupal. Por último, investigaciones en contextos que experimentaron violencia colectiva reportan en las personas preponderancia de valores de orientación social, así como también valores de auto-trascendencia e indicadores de crecimiento psicológico (Cárdenas et al, 2014;Vázquez & Páez, 2010).…”

“…En base a la evidencia empírica revisada preliminarmente y al contexto en el que se llevó a cabo el estudio, se planteó como hipótesis que los valores de motivación humanitaria y de orientación central y social tienen una influencia directa en el SWB, el BS y el clima emocional positivo Halloran, 2007;Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000).…”

Who is watching over you? The role of shared identity in perceptions of surveillance

“…This manipulation has been used successfully in previous research to manipulate relative identity salience (e.g. Adarves-Yorno, Postmes, & Haslam, 2006;Halloran, 2007). 1 1 Given the close nesting of identities used in this study, a follow-up study was conducted to check the effectiveness of the identity salience manipulation in manipulating relative salience.…”