Competitive victimhood

Dr Masi Noor|

I am currently in the process of validating the concept of 'competitive victimhood' in different intergroup conflict settings: the Middle East, Chile and Northern Ireland.

By combining two tendencies, victimhood and competition, I and my colleagues have developed the novel concept of competitive victimhood (Noor, Brown, Gonzalez et al., 2008). The concept refers to each group's effort to claim that it has suffered more than the outgroup.  However, this competition/comparison dimension, in the process of establishing one's suffering may actually trigger a mind-set that is obstructive to displaying generosity and understanding towards the outgroup. The lack of these qualities is most likely to reduce the probability of acknowledgement for past outgroup suffering to occur, and defined as a subjective assessment of the impact of the conflict by each group (Noor, Brown & Prentice, 2008a & b). What makes this novel concept intriguing is that it clearly points towards the common need in both groups for acknowledgement of their real or perceived experiences of harm. Simultaneously, however, the competition/comparison dimension in the process consequently reduces the prospect for intergroup forgiveness and reconciliation (Noor et al., 2008a & b).

International collaboration

My international collaborators are: Prof. Arie Nadler & Dr Same Halabi in Israel; Dr Roberto Gonzalez & Dr Jorge Manzi in Chile; Dr Chris Alan Lewis in Northern Ireland & Dr Garry Prentice in Ireland; Dr Sohela Nazneen in Bangladesh.

Discourse and psychology of climate change

Research group members: Dr Ana Fernandez| and Dr Chris Pike|

The research group examines prevalent discourses of climate change and the implications of these discourses for people's thinking and behaviour. It also explores whether and how people's attitudes and views regarding climate change can be changed.