Michael Wohl, Associate Professor of Psychology, Carleton University
The Multi-Generational Legacies of Victimization: Reminders of the Holocaust Promote Concern for Jewish Vitality, Moral Obligation, and Ingroup Protective Behaviours
Group membership provides a person with existential security. Although individual group members will eventually perish, the group is generally thought to have temporal persistence. In as much as group members believe that their group’s future is secure, membership provides a solid existential ground on which to stand. When that ground is thought to be fragile then existential concerns are likely to surface. The research presented in this talk will focus on how the salience of historical ingroup victimization (in this case the salience of the Holocaust amongst Jews) heightens group-based existential concerns. Attention will be drawn to collective angst – an aversive group-based emotion that stems from perceived threats to the ingroup’s future vitality – and the specific ways that group members attempt to stave off this unwanted future. Focus will also be placed on the sense of moral obligation that stems from historical ingroup victimization induced existential concerns as well as the limits and boundaries of this perceived obligation. Specifically, data will be presented that shows Jews feel morally obligated to help suffering outgroups (e.g., people of Darfur) when the Holocaust is salient, but not the Palestinians. The role the Holocaust plays in contemporary Jews’ attitudes and behaviour is discussed.