okładka numeru 20

No. 20 (2024)

ISSN:
1895-247X
eISSN:
2657-3571

Publication Date:
2024-12-17

Section: Psychology and the Holocaust

The social psychology of the Holocaust: from naive situationism to understanding the role of ideology

Michał Bilewicz

bilewicz@psych.uw.edu.pl

Michal Bilewicz - PhD, University of Warsaw professor, head of the's Center for the Study of Prejudice at University of Warsaw. Deals with the determinants of human attitudes towards other social groups and other species, as well as post-conflict situations (issues of reconciliation, forgiveness, moral emotions, understanding and explaining the past).

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5027-1691

Department of Psychology, University of Warsaw

Karolina Marcinkowska

karolina.marcinkowska@psych.uw.edu.pl

Karolina Marcinkowska - PhD student at the Center for Research on Prejudice at the University of Warsaw. She is interested in a wide range of issues in social and political psychology, especially prejudice, collective violence, the consequences of using stereotypical humor and group identification processes.

ORCID logo https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9935-0563

Center for the Study of Prejudice University of Warsaw

Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. 20 (2024), Pages: 215-237

Submission Date: 2024-05-06
Acceptance Date: 2024-07-10

Publication Date: 2024-12-17

DOI logo https://doi.org/10.32927/zzsim.1056

Abstract

The article shows how psychology and history have influenced each other in the analyses conducted by scientists on the behavior of Holocaust victims, perpetrators and witnesses. It describes the path that social psychology has taken, beginning with Milgram’s famous experiment on obedience, moving through personality and ideological explanations (in which dehumanization and conspiracy theories function), then emphasizing the role of witnesses, and ending with instrumental motivation – looting. The analysis indicates that changes in the psychological approach to the Holocaust are occurring in parallel with the evolution of Holocaust historiography. There is now a greater emphasis on the study of bystanders' behaviors, ideological and instrumental motivation, and the motivating nature of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that influenced the involvement in the crimes not only of Germans, but also of other European nations under occupation. 

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Bilewicz, M., & Marcinkowska, K. (2024). The social psychology of the Holocaust: from naive situationism to understanding the role of ideology. Zagłada Żydów. Studia I Materiały, (20), 215–237. https://doi.org/10.32927/zzsim.1056

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okładka numeru 20

No. 20 (2024)

ISSN:
1895-247X
eISSN:
2657-3571

Data publikacji:
2024-12-17

Dział: Psychology and the Holocaust