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Of Saints and Sinners: How Appeals to Collective Pride and Guilt Affect Outgroup Helping

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Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

Published online on

Abstract

We examined how appeals to collective guilt and pride can motivate people to help members of a disadvantaged outgroup. Results from two experiments supported the prediction that appeals to collective pride are more effective than appeals to collective guilt in prompting high identifying group members’, but not low identifying group members’ willingness to help the outgroup. Study 2 demonstrated that, as expected, pride appeals generated more empathy for the disadvantaged group than guilt appeals, particularly among high identifiers, and empathy mediated the relationship between emotional appeals and helping. The results complement existing research on collective guilt by demonstrating how high identifiers can be persuaded to help members of a disadvantaged outgroup even in the context of historical harmdoings.