In two post-conflict societies (Serbia and Cyprus), the authors investigated how people cope with in-group historical transgression when heroes and villains relevant for their collective identity are made salient in it. The authors set the events in foundational periods for Serbian (Experiment 1) and Greek Cypriot (Experiment 2) ethnic identity—that is, historical representations of the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and the Liberation Struggle (1955–1959), respectively. In both experiments, a between-subjects design was used to manipulate group membership (in-group or out-group) and representation of the salient character (hero, villain, or neutral) in fictitious but historically plausible accounts of transgressions. In Experiment 1 ( N = 225), the participants showed more moral disengagement in the case of in-group historical transgressions than in the case of identical transgressions by an out-group, while the in-group hero was rejected less than all the other historical characters. Social identification based on in-group superiority moderated both observed effects in such a manner that they were more pronounced for participants perceiving their ethnic group as superior. In Experiment 2 ( N = 136), historical transgression involving the in-group hero provoked the most moral disengagement and the least rejection of the group deviant. In-group superiority and in-group importance as distinct modes of social identification moderated these effects in such a way that they were more pronounced for high-identifying individuals. Taken together, the experiments show that the in-group hero, as a highly valued ethnic symbol, is exempt from the black sheep effect and the sanctions of critically attached group members. The authors discuss the implications of in-group heroes for political and educational communication.

中文翻译：

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（不）道德符号和（不）道德行为：应对群体英雄和恶棍历史越界的防御策略

在两个冲突后社会（塞尔维亚和塞浦路斯），作者调查了当与其集体身份相关的英雄和恶棍在其中突出时，人们如何应对群体内的历史越轨。作者将这些事件设定在塞尔维亚人（实验 1）和希族塞人（实验 2）种族认同的基础时期——即科索沃战役（1389 年）和解放斗争（1955-1959 年）的历史表现。在这两个实验中，受试者之间的设计被用来操纵组成员（组内或组外）和突出角色（英雄、恶棍或中立者）在虚构但历史上看似合理的犯罪记录中的表现。在实验 1（N = 225）中，参与者在群体内历史越界的情况下比在外群体的相同越界情况下表现出更多的道德脱离接触，而在群体中的英雄被拒绝的次数少于所有其他历史人物。基于群体内优越性的社会认同以这样一种方式缓和了两种观察到的效果，使得它们对于认为他们的种族群体优越的参与者更为明显。在实验 2 (N = 136) 中，涉及群体内英雄的历史越轨行为引起了最大的道德脱离接触和对离经叛道者群体的最少拒绝。作为社会认同的不同模式的群体内优越性和群体内重要性以这样一种方式缓和了这些影响，使得它们对于高认同的个体更为明显。总之，实验表明，组内英雄，作为一种高度重视的民族象征，不受害群之马效应和严重依附群体成员的制裁。作者讨论了群体内英雄对政治和教育交流的影响。