The impact of the politicization of grief on warmongering and pacifist attitudes.

• Autores: Paola Notarrigo, Alexandra Vázquez, David Lois
• Localización: International Journal of Social Psychology, Revista de Psicología Social, ISSN-e 1579-3680, ISSN 0213-4748, Vol. 41, Nº 2, 2026, págs. 329-352
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1177/02134748261425415
• Títulos paralelos:
  • El impacto de la politización del duelo en las actitudes belicistas y pacifistas.
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Los discursos de duelo por las bajas militares suelen estar cargados de mensajes retóricos centrados en el heroísmo, el honor y el sacrificio. Esta investigación trata de analizar empíricamente si la politización del duelo mediante estos valores sagrados incrementa las actitudes belicistas y reduce las pacifistas.

    Para ello, llevamos a cabo un estudio experimental en el que se presenta la historia de un soldado que pierde la vida en una misión, bien en términos neutros o bien en términos politizados. A continuación, medimos las actitudes pacifistas y belicistas de los participantes. Aquellos expuestos a la información politizada sobre la muerte del soldado mostraron mayor nivel de actitudes belicistas y menor nivel de actitudes pacifistas que los expuestos a información neutral sobre esa muerte. Estos resultados sugieren que el marco retórico utilizado para comunicar la muerte de los soldados influye críticamente en las actitudes de la población frente los conflictos armados.

  • English

    Bereavement discourses about military casualties are often loaded with rhetorical messages focused on heroism, honour and sacrifice. This research aims to examine experimentally whether the politization of grief through those sacred values reinforces warmongering attitudes and reduces pacifist ones. To that end, we conducted an experimental study in which we presented a story of a soldier who dies on a mission, either in neutral or in politicized terms. Then, we measured pacifist and warmongering attitudes. Participants exposed to the politicized information about the death of the soldier showed stronger warmongering attitudes and weaker pacifist attitudes than those exposed to the neutral information about his death. These findings suggest that the rhetorical framework used to communicate the soldiers’ death critically affects the attitudes of the population towards armed conflicts.

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