Empathizing with the Enemy: Emotion Regulation and Support for Humanitarian Aid in Intergroup Conflicts

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Kai Sassenberg
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 406023172

Intractable intergroup conflicts are one of the most serious challenges humanity is facing. Despite the intense negative emotions that such conflicts elicit, only recently have researchers begun to explore the regulation of emotional experiences as an aspect that may promote our understanding of these conflicts. Empirical research has so far focused on one single emotion regulation strategy, namely emotional distancing. Evidence regarding the impact of emotional distancing is mixed: it reduces negative emotions and increases hope with regard to the development of the conflict, but it does not influence empathy towards suffering outgroup members. However, empathy has a particularly strong potential to facilitate positive behavior towards members of other groups including reconciliation. Therefore, the proposed project sought to test the potential of another emotion regulation strategy, namely integrated emotion regulation (IER). IER involves (a) a differentiated awareness of one's emotional states and (b) a striving to understand them in the light of one’s goals. It has been shown to be highly effective in interpersonal conflicts. The current project set out to test the impact of IER in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the relation between Germans and refugees. To be more precise it will be tested (a) whether IER leads to outgroup directed empathy and support for humanitarian aid toward suffering outgroup members, (b) whether the complexity of the outgroup representation plays a role in this process, and (c) whether the benefits of IER compared to emotional distancing are particularly strong among individuals with a weak internal motivation to behave unprejudiced. These hypotheses will be tested experimentally and longitudinally while comparing IER’s effects to the effects of emotional distancing. Overall, the proposed project will contribute to the understanding of emotion-regulation in the context of intergroup conflict and provide knowledge upon which interventions in these contexts can be based.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• International Co-Applicant: Professor Guy Roth, Ph.D.