The future weighs heavier than the past: Collective guilt, perceived control and the influence of time

Abstract

The present research examines whether people can experience collective guilt for harmful events that have yet to be committed. In two experiments, we show that people not only experience collective guilt for future harm but feel it to a greater extent than for an identical event that occurred in the past. In Experiment 1, Canadians felt more collective guilt for flooding Aboriginal lands in 1 month's time than 1 month ago. This time effect was mediated by increased levels of perceived control over the harm inflicted. In Experiment 2, the same pattern was found among Germans for the decision by a German company to use suppliers that subject their Bangladeshi employees to inhumane working conditions. Moreover, they were also willing to compensate future harm more than past harm. Implications for groups seeking reparation are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Goal Motivation and the Subjective Perception of Past and Future Obstacles

“…Although the influence of the temporality of events on the perceptions and emotions they evoke has previously been studied (Burns et al, 2012;Caruso, 2010;Caouette et al, 2012;Kane et al, 2012), as well as the link between motivation and goal progress (see Deci & Ryan, 2008 for a review), this is the first time these two concepts have been studied jointly. Most studies examining the relationship between motivation and goal progress look at past events or track goal progress in real time.…”

Goal motivation and the subjective perception of past and future obstacles

“…Thoughts about future events evoke stronger emotions (Caruso, 2010), are seen as more intentional (Burns, Caruso, & Bartels, 2012), prototypical (Kane, VanBoven, & McGraw, 2012), and controllable (Caouette, Wohl, & Peetz, 2012) than thoughts about past events. For example, in a study by Ferrante and colleagues (2013), thoughts about a hypothetical challenge to a goal (failing a task) focused more on controllable aspects of the event (how failure could be avoided through one's own actions) when this challenge was anticipated to occur in the future, but focused more on uncontrollable aspects (how failure could be avoided by external circumstances) when it had already occurred.…”

“…Similarly, morally unjust events elicit stronger emotions if they have yet to occur than if they already happened -arguably because future events reflect a situation where one's own actions can still influence the outcome (Caruso, 2010;Caouette et al, 2012).…”

“…On one hand, motivation could be expected to affect perceptions and subjective recall regardless of the time frame. Alternatively, future obstacles might loom larger than already passed obstacles (Burns et al, 2012;Caruso, 2010;Caouette et al, 2012), such that subjective perceptions of future obstacles matter more than subjective perception of past obstacles and, consequently, vary more depending on the type of motivation. …”

Collective Guilt: Antecedets, Outcomes, and Ways of Avoding

“…Kolektif suçluluğu kişinin kendisini bir grubun üyesi olarak sınıflandırması ve kişisel sorumluluğu olmasa bile grubunu, meşru olmayan bir şekilde başka bir gruba zarar verme ile ilgili sorumlu algılamasından kaynaklanan bir duygu olarak tanımlamaktadırlar (Branscombe ve ark., 2002). Bu zarar verme geçmişte yaşanmış bir olay olabileceği gibi güncel gruplar arası eşitsizlik konularını da kapsayabilir (Caouette, Wohl ve Peetz, 2012). Nadir bir duygu olsa bile gruplarının bir parçası olduğu kölelik, kolonileştirme, işkence ve soykırım gibi olumsuz davranışlar ya da gruplarının verdiği/verebileceği zararlar hatırlatıldığında kolektif suçluluğun oluşma olasılığı mümkündür.…”