Brian Lickel: University of Southern California Department of Psychology

In this talk, I’ll present data examining how people think about and react to the wrong-doing of ingroup members. In particular, I’ll describe affective reactions of self-blame (shame, guilt, ingroup directed anger) that people sometimes experience when a member of their ingroup harms an outgroup. I argue that these affective reactions exist as a functional response to the problem of group-based or collective responsibility (e.g., blood revenge) and I will describe how the behavior that results from feelings of shame, guilt, or ingroup directed anger may reduce the extent to which a harmed outgroup engages in retaliation after a provocation.