Human potential for reconciliation: an attempt at the construction of the appropriate scale in the Balkans

Abstract The objective of this article is to attempt the construction of a scale that can measure the psychological potential of individuals for reconciliation based on existing theoretical considerations. Following the steps for the construction of the Likert-type scale and based on the responses of 1176 participants from the post-conflict region of the three Balkans countries of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the scale of Readiness for Reconciliation has been constructed. Applied exploratory factor analysis indicates the existence of four factors: trust, cooperation, forgiveness and rehumanisation. These factors are considered to be the main constituent elements of readiness for reconciliation. The obtained results show that scale has excellent psychometrics characteristics. Keywords: reconciliation, readiness, scale, trust, forgivenes