Emotion-based reconciliation requires attention to power differences, critical consciousness, and structural change

Comments on an article by Sabina Cehajic-Clancy, Amit Goldenberg, James J. Gross, and Eran Halperin (see record 2016-21477-001). The premise of the target article by Clancy et al. is that intergroup reconciliation should be understood as an emotion regulation process. Interventions aimed at promoting intergroup reconciliation should therefore focus on helping individuals and societies let go of past and current negative emotions and adopt positive and constructive emotions instead. Clancy et al. mentioned several steps that can be taken in this direction—for example, they state that \u27formal agreements do not fully resolve issues such as (but not limited to) responsibility, victimization, justice, and punishment\u27 and briefly address the importance of the perpetrator group acknowledging their responsibility for the harm doing, such as through apologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved