TY - JOUR
T1 - Collective psychological ownership and reconciliation in territorial conflicts
AU - Storz, Nora
AU - Martinovic, Borja
AU - Verkuyten, Maykel
AU - Žeželj, Iris
AU - Psaltis, Charis
AU - Roccas, Sonia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, PsychOpen. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Collective psychological ownership refers to people’s perception that an object, place, or idea belongs to their own group. We considered this concept in the context of territorial conflicts and proposed that (1) collective psychological ownership is distinct from place attachment, (2) higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to claim collective ownership and feel attached to the territory, yet (3) only ownership claims are related to lower support for reconciliation. These hypotheses were tested in two studies using structural equation modelling. Study 1 addressed the Kosovo conflict, based on Serbian participants living in Serbia (N = 264). We found that collective psychological ownership and place attachment were distinct. Moreover, higher Serbian identifiers had a stronger sense of collective ownership of Kosovo and were more attached to it. Those with stronger feelings of collective ownership supported reconciliation with Albanians less, while place attachment did not hinder reconciliation. Study 2 replicated these findings among a new sample of Serbs in Serbia (N = 173), among Serbs in Kosovo (N = 129), and in two other conflict settings: among Greek Cypriots in Cyprus (N = 135) and Jews in Israel (N = 109). Altogether, we provide evidence that collective psychological ownership can represent an obstacle to reconciliation in conflict regions.
AB - Collective psychological ownership refers to people’s perception that an object, place, or idea belongs to their own group. We considered this concept in the context of territorial conflicts and proposed that (1) collective psychological ownership is distinct from place attachment, (2) higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to claim collective ownership and feel attached to the territory, yet (3) only ownership claims are related to lower support for reconciliation. These hypotheses were tested in two studies using structural equation modelling. Study 1 addressed the Kosovo conflict, based on Serbian participants living in Serbia (N = 264). We found that collective psychological ownership and place attachment were distinct. Moreover, higher Serbian identifiers had a stronger sense of collective ownership of Kosovo and were more attached to it. Those with stronger feelings of collective ownership supported reconciliation with Albanians less, while place attachment did not hinder reconciliation. Study 2 replicated these findings among a new sample of Serbs in Serbia (N = 173), among Serbs in Kosovo (N = 129), and in two other conflict settings: among Greek Cypriots in Cyprus (N = 135) and Jews in Israel (N = 109). Altogether, we provide evidence that collective psychological ownership can represent an obstacle to reconciliation in conflict regions.
KW - Collective psychological ownership
KW - Ingroup identification
KW - Place attachment
KW - Reconciliation
KW - Territorial conflicts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087939166&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1145
DO - 10.5964/jspp.v8i1.1145
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AN - SCOPUS:85087939166
SN - 2195-3325
VL - 8
SP - 404
EP - 425
JO - Journal of Social and Political Psychology
JF - Journal of Social and Political Psychology
IS - 1
ER -