When and why moral exemplars fail to motivate intergroup reconciliation

Abstract

The present study examines the effectiveness of moral-exemplar interventions in the context of recurring oppression and historical trauma. Moral exemplars are individuals who have risked important aspects of their lives to save the lives of members of other social groups. In two experimental studies (total N = 405), we tested the hypothesis that presenting ingroup or outgroup moral exemplars improves intergroup relationships. We also tested the effects of the prototypicality of moral exemplars by manipulating the frequency of helping behavior in the perpetrator group. We used open-ended questions to qualitatively investigate how participants viewed moral exemplars. We failed to find positive effects of moral-exemplar interventions. The qualitative analysis confirmed that the in-group moral exemplar could be used as an “alibi” to justify the in-group's transgressions, while the outgroup moral exemplar was subtyped. Importantly, our findings do not invalidate, but complement, the moral-exemplar intervention literature by offering insights into future work with such interventions.