Recognition of shared past sufferings, trust and improving intergroup attitudes in Belgium

Abstract

This article examines the role of intergroup trust and recognition of past sufferings onintergroup attitudes. We conducted an experiment among Dutch-speaking students in which we manipulated the degree of importance that French-speakers gave to historical episodes of past victimizations in order to test its impact on the attitudes towards the French-speakers. Results show that intergroup attitudes were most favorable among the high-trusting Dutch-speaking participants when they were led to believe that the French- speakers judged important the events where both communities were considered as victims, compared to the conditions where only French-speaking or only Dutch-speaking sufferings were considered important. This suggests some level of intergroup trust is a condition forthe positive effect of shared memories of victimization on attitudes.