Stepping into perpetrators’ shoes: how ingroup transgressions and victimization shape support for retributive justice through perspective-taking with perpetrators

Three experiments (total N = 1,061) examined the morally disengaging function of perspective-taking with ingroup perpetrators in intergroup conflict. In the context of the Iran–U.S. conflict, Americans who strongly identified with their country showed increased perspective-taking with perpetrators, which in turn led to reduced support for retributive justice in response to the perpetration rather than suffering of intergroup violence (Experiment 1; N = 191). Experiment 2 (N = 294) replicated these findings in the context of the Israel–Syria conflict with Israeli Jews and demonstrated that perspective-taking with ingroup perpetrators serves a similar function as moral disengagement. Experiment 3 (N = 576) manipulated perpetrator perspective-taking, demonstrating its causal effect on support for retributive justice, again moderated by ingroup identification. The negative implications of understanding perpetrators for addressing intergroup transgressions are discussed.