Beliefs about history, the meaning of historical events and culture of war

• Autores: Bobowik, Magdalena, Páez, Darío, Liu, James H., Espinosa, Agustin, Techio, Elza, Zubieta, Elena, Cabecinhas, Rosa
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2010
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/434
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/psicologia/article/view/434
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Social representations; history; central nucleus; collective violence; representaciones sociales; historia; núcleo central; violencia colectiva

This study examines beliefs concerning the content of history, the meaning of Second World War (WWII) and the evaluation of historical events in relation to pro-war attitudes. Participants were 1183 university students from Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Cape Verde. Four supra-level dimensions in the representations of the past were found: History as progress and leaders-oriented, history as focused on justifying calamities, history as violence and catastrophe, and history as meaningless. The prevalent positive beliefs about history were linked with enthusiasm to fight in a future war for one’s country.