The Link Between Social Norms and Reconciliation and Behavioral Intentions in Postconflict Societies

Societies with history of past conflict are frequently segregated, thus lacking opportunities for direct contact with former adversaries that could improve the troubled intergroup relations. In such contexts, reconciliation and behavior toward former adversaries can be rather guided by social norms, both descriptive (i.e., awareness about interactions between the ingroup and former adversaries) and injunctive (i.e., perceived liking of the former adversary). Focusing on the conflict in Kosovo, we considered the perspective of both Albanians(N=220;) and Serbs (N=129;) to test the links between social norms (both descriptive and injunctive, as well as their interaction) and outcomes related to reconciliation and behavioral intentions toward former adversaries(i.e., trust, forgiveness, support for reparations, social distance, willingness to engage in contact with, and to help former adversaries). In both samples, positive and negative descriptive norms were related to all out comes (except for trust in Albanians) in the expected direction. Ingroup injunctive norms (i.e., perceivedliking of the outgroup by the ingroup) were associated with greater support for reconciliation (except for trust)and more positive behavioral intentions in Albanians. Outgroup injunctive norms (i.e., perceived liking of thein group by the outgroup) were positively associated with all outcomes in Serbs and with social distance and willingness to engage in contact in Albanians. While descriptive norms were linked to reconciliatory out comes in both samples, ingroup injunctive norms guided reconciliation and behavior in Albanians and ou tgroup injunctive norms in Serbs. Our results underscore the importance of considering the perspective of distinct sides of past conflicts for more generalizable results regarding reconciliation.