The influence of private narrative's emotional valence: The role of evoked emotions and social identification in the context of Belgium's divergent collective memory regarding collaboration during WWII and the subsequent repression

Details

Supervisors

Cordonnier, Aline ; Luminet, Olivier

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Amidst the rich landscape of historical and personal narratives, we often hear accounts from friends and family that either align, differ or even clash with the myths in collective memory. Even though these stories are about the past, they still bear meaning today. But what happens when these testimonies of the past don’t mash up, especially when it comes to controversial historical episodes? In this context, exploring how groups with divergent collective memories coexist is essential. This study focuses on Belgium’s case and aims to gain a better understanding of how the emotional valence of a private narrative about a former Belgian Eastern Front volunteer might influence the Flemish and Francophone audience’s attitudes regarding military collaboration during WWII and the subsequent repression. More specifically, how the emotional valence of the narrative triggers emotions in the audience and how social identification with the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities may moderate these effects. The study is built on Fisher’s narration paradigm (1985), which exposes the persuasive power of narratives. 154 participants, including 33 Flemish and 121 Francophones, aged 18 to 77 answered two online questionnaires, one week apart. In the first questionnaire, participants answered demographic and attitude-related questions. In the second questionnaire, they were given a short vignette to read. The story was from a son testifying on his father’s past as a former Belgian Eastern volunteer. Participants then answered questions regarding their social identification, the intensity of specific evoked emotions and attitudes towards collaboration during WWII and repression. The qualitative data was analysed through linear regressions and mixed design ANOVAs. The main result showed that emotions expressed in the private vignettes about a former Eastern Front volunteer do influence how people think about collaboration and repression, even though the shift is subtle. Thus, storytelling might have the potential to initiate open dialogues and foster mutual understanding between groups with divergent memories, leading to the recognition of alternative collective narratives surrounding contentious, historical events. Nevertheless, the study has limitations. The sample was unbalanced between both linguistic communities. Also, the emotions brought out by the testimonies were not very strong, and the way these emotions were measured could be improved. So, we need to be careful when interpreting the results. For future research, the sample should be more balanced and representative of the general population, measure discrete emotions in better ways and explore the use of first-person narratives to evoke stronger emotions in the audience.