Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History
Visiting historical places can give important impulses regarding education of history, society, and politics. While there does exist extensive research on visitors' experiences at memorial sites, little is known about the impact of everyday places holding dark history. Two experimental studies...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.936621/full |
| _version_ | 1798000882677186560 |
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| author | Melissa Ries Stephan Schwan |
| author_facet | Melissa Ries Stephan Schwan |
| author_sort | Melissa Ries |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Visiting historical places can give important impulses regarding education of history, society, and politics. While there does exist extensive research on visitors' experiences at memorial sites, little is known about the impact of everyday places holding dark history. Two experimental studies took place in a research institute, a former women's clinic, where in the time of National Socialist (NS) dictatorship in Germany hundreds of forced sterilizations took place. Historical awareness was manipulated via systematic variation of prior information. We found partial evidence that historical awareness had a negative effect on personal mood. Awareness of the site's NS history had a negative effect on the perceived valence of related photos but did not influence their qualitative description. Also, there was partial evidence that the site itself was perceived less positively and evoked more arousal when participants were aware of its NS history. Possible reasons are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:27:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b84c4efdb5ae4bf5bbd6bb780d3b8c6b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:27:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b84c4efdb5ae4bf5bbd6bb780d3b8c6b2022-12-22T04:26:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-09-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.936621936621Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist HistoryMelissa RiesStephan SchwanVisiting historical places can give important impulses regarding education of history, society, and politics. While there does exist extensive research on visitors' experiences at memorial sites, little is known about the impact of everyday places holding dark history. Two experimental studies took place in a research institute, a former women's clinic, where in the time of National Socialist (NS) dictatorship in Germany hundreds of forced sterilizations took place. Historical awareness was manipulated via systematic variation of prior information. We found partial evidence that historical awareness had a negative effect on personal mood. Awareness of the site's NS history had a negative effect on the perceived valence of related photos but did not influence their qualitative description. Also, there was partial evidence that the site itself was perceived less positively and evoked more arousal when participants were aware of its NS history. Possible reasons are discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.936621/fullhistoric placehistoric sitehistory awarenessNational Socialistaffective judgmentmood |
| spellingShingle | Melissa Ries Stephan Schwan Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History Frontiers in Psychology historic place historic site history awareness National Socialist affective judgment mood |
| title | Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History |
| title_full | Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History |
| title_fullStr | Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History |
| title_full_unstemmed | Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History |
| title_short | Know Where You Stand: Affective Effects of Becoming Aware of a Place's National Socialist History |
| title_sort | know where you stand affective effects of becoming aware of a place s national socialist history |
| topic | historic place historic site history awareness National Socialist affective judgment mood |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.936621/full |
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