Visiting Auschwitz: Evidence of secondary traumatization among high school students.

Bilewicz, Michał; Wójcik, Adrian

doi:10.1037/ort0000302

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…For perpetrator group members, reminders of how their group's past actions continue to harm an outgroup today can lead to defensive responses and heighten prejudice (e.g., Imhoff & Banse, 2009). Descriptions of historical trauma can cause secondary traumatic stress in learners, particularly among the highly empathic (Bilewicz & Wójcik, 2018). As well, if a person perceives an outgroup's suffering to be beyond repair, they may feel less empathy for that group (Lerner & Simmons, 1966; Starzyk & Ross, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“The More You Know”: Critical Historical Knowledge About Indian Residential Schools Increases Non‐Indigenous Canadians' Empathy for Indigenous Peoples

Neufeld

Starzyk

Boese

et al. 2021

Political Psychology

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The pursuit of intergroup reconciliation often includes efforts to educate with the goal of fostering empathy. Yet little empirical evidence demonstrates whether and why greater knowledge might increase empathy. In this research, we investigated whether more critical historical knowledge about a harmed outgroup increases empathy for them, and we explored whether perceptions of privity, the extent to which a past harm continues to cause suffering today, account for this relationship. We tested these hypotheses in the context of non‐Indigenous Canadians' knowledge of Indian Residential Schools and attitudes about Indigenous Peoples across eight laboratory studies with 1242 non‐Indigenous undergraduate students at two Canadian universities. In two studies, participants completed a multiple‐choice measure of knowledge. In the remaining studies, we experimentally varied knowledge through brief educational interventions. All studies included measures of empathy, and five studies included measures of privity. Internal meta‐analyses indicated that participants with higher levels of critical historical knowledge felt more empathy for the outgroup because they could better see how past intergroup harms continue to cause suffering today. We discuss implications for social and political psychological theory and designing education for reconciliation interventions in Canada and elsewhere.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…τ 2 = 0.00, SE = 0.02; I 2 = 0.01%. in learners, particularly among the highly empathic (Bilewicz & Wójcik, 2018). As well, if a person perceives an outgroup's suffering to be beyond repair, they may feel less empathy for that group (Lerner & Simmons, 1966;Starzyk & Ross, 2008).…”

Section: Implications and Directions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The More You Know”: Critical Historical Knowledge About Indian Residential Schools Increases Non‐Indigenous Canadians' Empathy for Indigenous Peoples

Neufeld

Starzyk

Boese

et al. 2021

Political Psychology

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“…Lastly, three quantitative longitudinal and experimental studies explored the impact of a Holocaust memorial visit for Polish, American Jewish and Israeli students. They revealed an initial increase of distress and PTSD symptoms (Bilewicz & Wojcik, 2018;Mimouni-Bloch, Walter, Ross, & Bloch, 2013;Silverman et al, 1999), but symptoms diminished to base line after twelve months (Silverman et al, 1999). Looking at emotions that are connected to PTS reactions, qualitative interview studies reveal that public commemoration nourished feelings of personal injustice, of being forgotten or misunderstood, which was linked to anger, bitterness, and resentment (Barron et al, 2008;Beristain, Paez, & Gonzalez, 2000;Burnell et al, 2010;Magierowski, 2016;Oushakine, 2006).…”

Section: Pts Reactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commemoration of disruptive events: a scoping review about posttraumatic stress reactions and related factors

Mitima‐Verloop

Boelen

Mooren

2020

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Collective commemoration in response to war or disaster is widespread across time and cultures. It is assumed to support those affected by the disruptive event to cope with their experiences. However, the actual relationship between commemoration and mental health outcomes is complicated and evidence of healing effects remains elusive. By applying a scoping review approach, this article maps empirical studies that focus on commemoration from a psychological perspective. Within five electronic databases, 415 unique articles were identified, of which 26 met the predetermined inclusion criteria, i.e. presenting empirical data on the subject of war or large-scale violence and commemoration in relation to posttraumatic stress (PTS) and grief reactions. The data were extracted and analysed according to the five steps of a systematic scoping review. Results varied, with both negative and positive effects of commemoration on PTS and grief reactions being reported. Based on these findings we propose an evidence-informed model that distinguishes different aspects influencing the linkage between commemoration and PTS and grief reactions. The following aspects are distinguished: contextual factors, including political and cultural context, individual characteristics and facilitating mechanism, including expression, recognition, support, meaning-making and personal memories. The proposed model needs to be tested and validated by further quantitative research. This will allow social workers and policy makers to make well-informed decisions about commemorative events that may benefit fractured communities as well as individuals.

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“…What has been evidenced in this study is a complex picture of the educators' descriptions of their emotional engagement with their role teaching about the Holocaust at an authentic site, both personally and professionally. In the field of museum studies, much has been written about the nature of visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the emotional demands the site places upon visitors (see, for example, Bilewicz and Wojcik, 2018;Griffiths, 2018;Richardson, 2019). The current museum director has observed that even for employees who go to the site daily, 'Auschwitz overwhelms … you can never get used to it' (Cywin ´ski, 2015: 45).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘We too find it difficult’: A consideration of site-based Holocaust education as emotional labour

Richardson¹

2021

History Education Research Journal

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Among the growing body of literature concerning teaching and learning about the Holocaust, very little research has explored the experiences of teachers from an emotional perspective. This study considers the emotion work done by educators who are teaching about the Holocaust at the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Through the lens of ‘emotional labour’, the study explores how the educators articulate their emotion work, and how they manage their emotions in situ. The findings reveal a complex interplay of emotion work and self-preservation that results in educators variously altering the extent to which they are ‘present’ and how they choose to withdraw themselves emotionally from certain exhibits or spaces at the museum. The study also reveals the benefits of the informal emotional support network that exists between the educators, as well as the various routines they adopt to help them manage their emotion work. It is argued that the findings of this paper highlight a need for further research into how teachers teach about emotionally difficult histories such as this, in similar and more diverse contexts.

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Visiting Auschwitz: Evidence of secondary traumatization among high school students.

Cited by 17 publications

References 40 publications

“The More You Know”: Critical Historical Knowledge About Indian Residential Schools Increases Non‐Indigenous Canadians' Empathy for Indigenous Peoples

“The More You Know”: Critical Historical Knowledge About Indian Residential Schools Increases Non‐Indigenous Canadians' Empathy for Indigenous Peoples

Commemoration of disruptive events: a scoping review about posttraumatic stress reactions and related factors

‘We too find it difficult’: A consideration of site-based Holocaust education as emotional labour

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