Comparison of the Effects of Individual and Group-Level Perspective Taking on Intergroup Reconciliation

Abstract. We investigated the effects of different perspective taking instructions on emotional variables in the context of intergroup reconciliation. In three experiments we found that individual-level and group-level perspective taking increased willingness to compensate an outgroup for historical transgressions of the ingroup. The data suggests that the two forms of perspective taking trigger different psychological processes. Individual-level perspective taking was more strongly linked to feelings of empathy. Group-level perspective taking increased feelings of collective guilt. Collective guilt mediated the positive effect of group-level perspective taking on willingness to compensate. No such effect was found for individual-level perspective taking.