Emotional Reactions to Historical Injustice Events:Collective Guilt

Collective guilt can be conceptualized as guilt that is experienced as a consequence of belonging to a group which has done wrongdoing to the other groups,even though the personal self was clearly uninvolved in the harmful actions.It is a self-focus emotion.Some cognitive factors will affect the group-based guilt,such as in-group responsibility,legitimacy appraisal,perceived difficulty of making restitutions,the personal value priorities and national identity will produce the individual difference in collective guilt.Group-based guilt can facilitate apologies and restitutions to the victimized group.There are ample opportunities to develop whether people can experience collective guilt for present-day behavior that harms in-group members in the future,and the other emotions will integrate with collective guilt in intergroup reconciliation.