Conflict Resolution Lab
At the heart of the research conducted in this lab is a desire to understand the causes and consequences of harmdoing at both the interpersonal (one person transgressing against another) and intergroup level (historical and contemporary harm experienced by members of one group at the hands of another group).
We tend to concentrate on real-world conflict situations and the processes involved in forgiveness and reconciliation. At the intergroup level, the team seeks to establish a better understanding of the routes and mechanisms by which people come to accept responsibility for their own group鈥檚 past transgressions against another group. We also examine factors that influence historically victimized group members’ willingness to forgive outgroup members for their group鈥檚 transgressions.
A topic of particular interest is how concern about the future vitality of one鈥檚 group (collective angst) influences both intragroup and intergroup attitudes and behaviour. We have shown that in some contexts collective angst can facilitate constructive behaviour (donating to ingroup organizations, willingness to compromise with an adversary group). However, in other contexts, collective angst leads to, among other things, ingroup schisms and aggression directed at outgroups. Recently, we have begun to examine prejudice against atheists from an existential psychological perspective. Specifically, among other things, we have found that atheists pose an existential threat to theists, which leads to high levels of distrust and prejudice.
At the interpersonal level, we have focused on the effect time (e.g., subjective temporal distance) has on the forgiveness process, how relationship dynamics influence whether forgiveness and relationship repair is possible, and (more recently) the positive and negative effects of self-forgiveness.
Selected (Recent) Publications
Hornsey, M.J., Wohl, M.J.A., Harris, E.A., Okimoto, T.G., Thai, M., & Wenzel, M. (in press). . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000208
Wohl, M.J.A., Tabri, N., Hollingshead, S.J., Dupuis, D.R., & Caouette, J. (2019). . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000176
Sprong, S., Jetten, J., Wang, Z., Peters, K., Mols, F., Verkuyten, M., … Wohl, M.J.A. (2019). Psychological Science, 30, 1-13. doi: 10.1177/0956797619875472
Tabri, N., Wohl, M. J. A., & Caouette, J. (2017). . European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1), 72-85. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2303
Hornsey, M. J., Bain, P. G., Blumen, S., Chen, S. X., Go虂mez, A虂., Gonz谩lez, R., Guan, Y., Kashima, E., Lebedeva, N., & Wohl, M. J. A. (2017). . Social Psychology and Personality Science. doi:10.1177/1948550617691096
Kachanoff, F. J., Caouette, J., Wohl, M. J. A., & Taylor, D. M. (2017). . European Journal of Social Psychology. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2260
Dupuis, D., Wohl, M. J. A., Packer, D., & Tabri, N. (2016). . Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 19, 694-710. doi:10.1177/1368430216638535
Wohl, M. J. A., Cohen-Chen, S., Halperin, E., Caouette, J., Hayes, N., & Hornsey, M. J. (2015). . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 714鈥725. doi:10.1177/0146167215576721
Wohl, M. J. A., & McLaughlin, K. L. (2014). . Social Psychology and Personality Compass, 8, 422-435. doi:10.1111/spc3.12119