“Should a country's leaders apologize for its past misdeeds?” An analysis of the effects of both public apologies from a Belgian official and perception of Congolese victims' continued suffering on Belgians' representations of colonial action, support for reparation, and attitudes towards the Congolese

Abstract

This study sought to identify the conditions facilitating the recognition of a social group's past misdeeds among its members. Such recognition entails a threat to group members' social identity, potentially triggering defensive strategies, such as denying these misdeeds, not experiencing collective guilt and shame, opposing reparative actions, and derogating the victim group's members. As collective rituals, public apologies performed by an official representative should allow group members to acknowledge the harm done while maintaining a positive social identity, therefore alleviating the need for such defensive strategies. We carried out an experimental study based on a 2 (Apologies vs. No apologies) × 2 (Continued suffering vs. No continued suffering) + 1 (Control) design, with Belgian participants (N = 164). In all conditions, participants were reminded of the atrocities committed during the first years of the Belgian colonization of Congo. This description was followed by a short statement about the suffering that Congolese people still endured (Continued suffering condition) or none (No continued suffering), then by a transcript of public apologies pronounced by Belgium's Foreign Affairs Minister in the Apologies condition, or none (No apologies). Results revealed that Belgian participants' attitudes and behavioural intentions towards the Congolese were the most positive when both apologies and the victims' continued suffering were reunited. A mediation analysis further demonstrated that differences in levels of racism and in support for reparation were mediated by representations of the ingroup's past.

Resumen

Se analizarán las condiciones que facilitan que un grupo reconozca los “delitos” llevados a cabo por este mismo grupo en el pasado. Este reconocimiento puede suponer una amenaza para la identidad social de los miembros que puede provocar estrategias defensivas. La petición pública de perdón por parte de un representante oficial del endogrupo podría permitir a los miembros del grupo asumir el daño causado manteniendo a su vez una identidad social positiva. Se llevó a cabo un estudio experimental con un diseño 2 (perdón/no perdón) × 2 (sufrimiento continuado/no sufrimiento) + 1 (control) con participantes belgas (n = 164). En todas las condiciones se recordó a los participantes las atrocidades cometidas durante los primeros años de la colonización belga del Congo. Los resultados muestran que las actitudes e intenciones conductuales de los participantes hacia las personas del Congo eran más positivas en la condición en la que se ofrecía perdón y el sufrimiento continuaba presente. Un análisis mediacional mostró que las diferencias en los niveles de racismo y apoyo a la reparación se encontraban mediadas por las representaciones del pasado del endogrupo.

Keywords:

• Public apologies
• social representations
• social identity
• Belgium
• Congo

Palabras clave:

• Perdón público
• representaciones sociales
• identidad social
• Bélgica
• Congo