Examining the Effects of Emotion Regulation Strategies on Intergroup Reconciliation Attitudes in Post-Conflict Contexts

Abstract

Group-based emotion regulation is considered to be quite effective in promoting intergroup reconciliation. However, the existing literature has mainly focused on the reformative effects of the cognitive reappraisal (a specific emotion regulation strategy that aims to modify one’s cognition regarding an emotion) in intractable conflicts and has failed to examine the effects of other emotion regulation strategies in post-conflict contexts. This thesis is set out to specifically address this gap in the literature a) by investigating what other emotion regulation strategies can be utilised in promoting intergroup reconciliation attitudes, and b) whether these emotion regulation strategies can be effective in different post-conflict environments. These two research questions were explored using a quantitative method approach across four studies. Study 1 (N = 261) was a cross-sectional study and examined the relationships between five different emotion regulation strategies and intergroup reconciliation attitudes in the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland. It was found that along with cognitive reappraisal, two other strategies (situation selection and rumination) also can be used to promote reconciliation attitudes. Building on this finding, Study 2 (N = 484) experimentally examined the effects of these three emotion regulation strategies through indirect approach of emotion regulation, in the same post-conflict context. However, manipulations were failed, and thus Study 3 (N = 366) examined the effects of aforementioned strategies through direct approach of emotion regulation. Although manipulations did not directly affect the intergroup reconciliation attitudes, it was found that group-based emotions were successfully up-regulated for the experimental conditions. Building on this finding, Study 4 (N = 349) examined these abovementioned emotion regulation strategies in the post-conflict context of India – Pakistan, which is a relatively tenser context compared to the Northern Ireland. However, manipulations were failed to affect intergroup reconciliation attitudes, in this context as well. Overall, correlational findings of the thesis showed that different emotion regulation strategies can promote intergroup reconciliation in post-conflict contexts, however, these findings were not supported by the experimental emotion regulation manipulations. Therefore, this thesis suggests that group-based emotion regulation strategies that examine the immediate effects on intergroup reconciliation can be impractical in post-conflict context, therefore, instead the immediate ones, their long-term effects should be examined.

Date of Award	24 Oct 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Jenny Paterson (Supervisor)