Empathizing with the Enemy: Emotion Regulation and Support for Humanitarian Aid in Intergroup Conflicts
Final Report Abstract
Intergroup conflicts represent an important challenge for societies around the world. A key factor in such conflicts are emotions, which can contribute to conflict escalation (in case of emotions like anger, fear, or hatred) but also to conflict de-escalation (in case of emotions like hope or empathy). Therefore, this project aimed to investigate whether a specific emotion regulation strategy might be used to promote conflict resolution: integrative emotion regulation (IER; i.e., a differentiated awareness of one's emotional states coupled with active attempts at understanding them in light of and integrating them with one's goals). We predicted that IER would be more beneficial for improving intergroup relations than emotional distancing (ED), which had been the focus of prior work. Moreover, we hypothesized that this benefit of IER over ED would be due to IER fostering empathy for outgroup members and a more complex representation of the outgroup. Across studies, we manipulated or measured IER and assessed its effect on empathy for outgroup members, supportiveness towards them, and perceived outgroup complexity, taking potential moderators into account. Our experimental studies did not support our hypothesis that situationally induced IER would be more beneficial for intergroup relations than situationally induced ED. However, we found correlational and longitudinal evidence that the more individuals use IER, the more supportive they are towards outgroups. Higher sympathy (but not a more complex representation of the outgroup) mediated this relation. Moreover, it emerged independent of outgroup behavior, suggesting that IER might colour individuals‘ general outlook on outgroups early on. This finding generalized across outgroups, different intergroup conflicts, and samples from different cultural backgrounds. In addition, we found that using IER can help individuals to cope with stressful situations, apparent in enhanced physical well-being and reduced work-life conflict. In sum, this project, therefore provides substantial evidence that fostering IER early on and long-term might not only lead to more peaceful but also more resilient societies.
Publications
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I feel, therefore I help - Integrative emotion regulation, outgroup directed sympathy, and outgroup support. Emotions 2019 - 7th International conference on emotions, well-being, and health. Tilburg, The Netherlands. [Talk]
Ditrich, L., Sassenberg, K., & Roth, G.
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I feel (for you) – I'll help! The relation between integrative emotion regulation, sympathy, and support for outgroups. Social Emotions Meeting (SEM). [Talk]
Ditrich, L., Sassenberg, K., & Roth, G.
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Integrative emotion regulation is related to sympathy and support for outgroups - Chronic response pattern or in situ emotion regulation? European Social Cognition Network (ESCON), Transfer of Knowledge Conference 2021. Salzburg, Austria. [Talk]
Ditrich, L., Roth, G., & Sassenberg, K.
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Long-term or situational? How integrative emotion regulation relates to sympathy and supportiveness towards outgroups? Consortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE) 2022 conference. Granada, Spain. [Talk]
Ditrich, L.
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Empathise with the enemy: emotion regulation and support for conciliatory policies in intractable conflicts. 8th Self-Determination Theory Conference, Tampa, USA
Ostrrricher, Y.
