Intergroup Forgiveness: The Interplay Between Who We Are and What Tales We Tell

Abstract

This chapter explores the concept of intergroup forgiveness. Though still novel to the field of social psychology, its potent promise to facilitate conflicting groups to transform from mutual enmity to peaceful co-existence continues to generate interest among scholars. In unpacking intergroup forgiveness, this chapter explores what might determine how a group responds to the suffering it has experienced at the hand of another group. Specifically, we analyse the role of social identity, victim belief construals (the way the group frames its suffering), and their potential interplay as possible determinants. In support of this analysis, this chapter will review empirical research based on studies conducted with groups caught up in real-life conflict settings (e.g. Israel-Palestine, Northern Ireland). Finally, this chapter concludes by highlighting the double-edged sword nature of intergroup forgiveness, namely, healing fractured intergroup relations versus maintaining group-based inequalities.