Examining the Round Table Talks from the perspective of the Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation: Observations and insights
Open Access
- 1 January 2019
- journal article
- Published by Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID) in Social Psychological Bulletin
- Vol. 14 (4)
- https://doi.org/10.32872/spb.v14i4.2321
Abstract
This commentary analyzes the democratization process triggered by the Polish Round Table Talks using the framework of the Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation, which conceptualizes reconciliation as a social exchange transaction in which perpetrators gain moral-social acceptance, whereas victims gain power. I argue that the talks allowed the restoration of communists’ moral-social identity, and Solidarity’s power and voice. I further argue that to complete such a transaction, both parties must believe that they would gain more through compromise than through violence. They must also overcome the “magnitude gap”; namely the systematic discrepancy between victims’ vs. perpetrators’ estimation of the severity or immorality of the same transgressions or social arrangements. Finally, as is the case for any exchange transaction, people may question its benefits. When doing so, however, they might take the non-violent nature of the transition to democracy for granted – due to “the hindsight bias.” Taking into account that the alternatives were probably worse may contribute to undermining conspiracy theories about “dirty dealings” between the parties, and commemorating the legacy of the Round Table Talks as an inspiring moment in history.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Psychology and the round table talksSocial Psychological Bulletin, 2019
- The Psychology of Conspiracy TheoriesCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, 2017
- Speaking (Un–)Truth to Power: Conspiracy Mentality as A Generalised Political AttitudeEuropean Journal of Personality, 2014
- Harmful Ideas, The Structure and Consequences of Anti‐Semitic Beliefs in PolandPolitical Psychology, 2013
- Reconciliation through the Righteous: The Narratives of Heroic Helpers as a Fulfillment of Emotional Needs in Polish−Jewish Intergroup ContactJournal of Social Issues, 2013
- The Big Two in Social Judgment and BehaviorSocial Psychology, 2013
- Enemies WithinPublished by Yale University Press ,2001
- Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of InhumanitiesPersonality and Social Psychology Review, 1999
- How communism could have been saved: Formal analysis of electoral bargaining in Poland in 1989Public Choice, 1999
- Hindsight is not equal to foresight: The effect of outcome knowledge on judgment under uncertainty.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 1975