Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust
The media are playing an increasingly important role in teaching the public about the history of the Holocaust. In Germany, however, Holocaust documentaries have been criticized for eliciting unintended, adverse reactions among the viewers, such as distancing from the victims or calling for closing...
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doaj-076558ff119d496e93e65e1dcf2610972020-11-25T02:46:38ZengPsychOpenJournal of Social and Political Psychology2195-33252017-08-015236739510.5964/jspp.v5i2.355jspp.v5i2.355Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the HolocaustJohannes Kopf-Beck0Felix Gaisbauer1Susanne Dengler2Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, GermanyThe media are playing an increasingly important role in teaching the public about the history of the Holocaust. In Germany, however, Holocaust documentaries have been criticized for eliciting unintended, adverse reactions among the viewers, such as distancing from the victims or calling for closing the books on the past. This criticism stems from the concern that such reactions pose an obstacle to critical-constructive engagement and coming to terms with history. This study examines the interplay between cinematic representation of the Holocaust, film-induced defensive strategies, and group-based emotions of shame. Based on a content analysis of six different film excerpts, we investigated the mediating effects of four defensiveness strategies (distancing from victims, victim blaming, closeness to perpetrators, and rejection of the relevance of the Holocaust) on group-based shame in a sample of 224 pupils from Germany’s third post-war generation in a quasi-experimental field study. The results reveal the complexity of film-portrayals which can foster as well as hinder group-based shame and thus, a constructive dealing with past injustice.http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/355group-based shameHolocaustdefensiveness strategiesTV-documentariescontent analysisfilm-effects |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Johannes Kopf-Beck Felix Gaisbauer Susanne Dengler |
spellingShingle |
Johannes Kopf-Beck Felix Gaisbauer Susanne Dengler Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust Journal of Social and Political Psychology group-based shame Holocaust defensiveness strategies TV-documentaries content analysis film-effects |
author_facet |
Johannes Kopf-Beck Felix Gaisbauer Susanne Dengler |
author_sort |
Johannes Kopf-Beck |
title |
Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust |
title_short |
Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust |
title_full |
Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust |
title_fullStr |
Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust |
title_full_unstemmed |
Shame on Me? Shame on You! Emotional Reactions to Cinematic Portrayals of the Holocaust |
title_sort |
shame on me? shame on you! emotional reactions to cinematic portrayals of the holocaust |
publisher |
PsychOpen |
series |
Journal of Social and Political Psychology |
issn |
2195-3325 |
publishDate |
2017-08-01 |
description |
The media are playing an increasingly important role in teaching the public about the history of the Holocaust. In Germany, however, Holocaust documentaries have been criticized for eliciting unintended, adverse reactions among the viewers, such as distancing from the victims or calling for closing the books on the past. This criticism stems from the concern that such reactions pose an obstacle to critical-constructive engagement and coming to terms with history. This study examines the interplay between cinematic representation of the Holocaust, film-induced defensive strategies, and group-based emotions of shame. Based on a content analysis of six different film excerpts, we investigated the mediating effects of four defensiveness strategies (distancing from victims, victim blaming, closeness to perpetrators, and rejection of the relevance of the Holocaust) on group-based shame in a sample of 224 pupils from Germany’s third post-war generation in a quasi-experimental field study. The results reveal the complexity of film-portrayals which can foster as well as hinder group-based shame and thus, a constructive dealing with past injustice. |
topic |
group-based shame Holocaust defensiveness strategies TV-documentaries content analysis film-effects |
url |
http://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/355 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT johanneskopfbeck shameonmeshameonyouemotionalreactionstocinematicportrayalsoftheholocaust AT felixgaisbauer shameonmeshameonyouemotionalreactionstocinematicportrayalsoftheholocaust AT susannedengler shameonmeshameonyouemotionalreactionstocinematicportrayalsoftheholocaust |
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1724757025765720064 |