Positive Effects of Communal Coping in the Aftermath of a Collective Trauma

231 Pages·2015·4.58 MB·English

ANNA WLODARCZYK
"Together we have it all!"
Benefits of participation in collective emotional gatherings and
communal coping
Supervisor: Nekane Basabe
University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
2015
The drawings on the cover and on each chapter's cover page are by Weronika
Teplicka

© 2015 Anna Wlodarczyk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the author.
We may not have it all together,
but together we have it all
To my mother, my father
and my brother
Acknowledgments
“No man is an island” everyone is somehow connected to every other human being in some way.
Hardship is a treasure in that it causes men to grow and mature;
therefore we inherit wisdom from perceiving suffering and from overcoming it.
First of all I have to acknowledge that this research project would not have been
possible without the help, support and influence of many people who are too
numerous to name, but who are profoundly thanked. This process has not been easy;
sometimes I have felt like I was running to stand still. Then I realized that you become
strong when being strong is the only choice and when you learn to share your
weaknesses with others. As the title of this dissertation states we may not have it all
together but together we can manage to have it all!
I would like to thank Nekane Basabe for providing me the opportunity to pursue
this doctoral degree under her supervision. Her guidance, assistance and personal
mentorship has been crucial in my development as an independent researcher. I thank
her especially for her unrivalled support that I needed so badly as a source of strength
when I had lost focus or faith not only throughout this dissertation but over the last
five years. Nekane your encouragement, understanding, kindness and help were
tremendously important for me. You are a person I highly respect both personally and
professionally. I thank Dario Páez for the knowledge he passed on to me, for the
guidance that shaped this dissertation, for his enthusiasm, for confidence and
willingness to help me and for all the opportunities I was given. Without their help this
research proyect would have been impossible.
I would also like to especially acknowledge all my colleagues from the research
team and university. Getting to know them and sharing this experience with them gave
me an opportunity to enjoy a lot of unforgettable and inspiring moments. The support
and understanding I have received meant so much to me. I would like to specifically
thank Magda Bobowik for being a wonderful friend and for introducing me into the
research team. Her encouragement, support and guidance in sorting out how it all
works were extremely important for me. Larraitz Zumeta for her sacrificial giving,
patience, calm and serenity which was deeply impactful and meaningful to me.
Larraitz without your help I wouldn’t manage to do it!!! I am indebted to you! Alicia
Puente for the countless ways she helped me, for her sympathy and for being such an
understanding person. Words cannot fully express my appreciation and gratefulness
for you. Gabriela Nicolae for being always there for me, understanding and willing to
accompany me. Special thanks to Maitane, Karina, Jota, Gonzalo, Silvia, Fuad, Saioa,
Itziar, Sonia, among others, who helped me so much and made this adventure an
unforgettable experience. To all the professors from our department especially to
Esther, Iñaki, Garbinie, Lorena, Maider, Daniel, Ainara, Cristina and many others for
being so kind to me. Inés, Loli and Mila for their patience and help.
Furthermore, the research encompassed in this dissertation was also a product of
multiple external collaborations and I thank each co-author and collaborator including
Bernard Rimé, Francisco Martínez, Loreto Villagrán, Felipe García, Carlos Reyes,
Camilo Madariaga, Jorge Palacio, Sergi Rufi, Federico Javaloy, Cristina Gómez Román,
Camilo Cristancho, Alberto Amutio for contributing their knowledge, time and
dedication. Bernard, thank you so much for your appreciation, for including me in all
the exciting research projects and for mentoring me during my short internship in
Belgium. Paco thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you and hosting
me in Murcia. Loreto thank you so much for all your support it was such a pleasure to
have you as a research colleague and a friend during all the process, your support was
priceless. Felipe thank you again for including me in all the research projects and for
all the opportunities that our collaboration supposed and of course for hosting me in
your university while I was in Chile. Special thanks to Félix Cova for supervising my
research internship in UdeC and all the help and support.
Importantly, I would also like to thank my mother, my father, and my brother for
their ongoing support and encouragement of all my new initiatives since my earliest
days and for who they are and how they impacted me. I truly recognize that my
mother and my father were my inspiration to undertake this adventure. Thank you for
instilling in me the courage to always yearn to be a better myself, to never give up and
to chase my dreams. Because of your example, I learned the value of overcoming
difficulties and I can truly say that a large part of any success I have achieved is
because of you. I am eternally grateful to you.
Special thanks to all the people I got to know here in San Sebastián that shaped
me and made me grow personally. To Rodrigo for encouraging me to become a better
person, for being persistent, for standing along even when I was weak and also for
inspiring me to start and complete the process of this dissertation. To Enrique for
being so kind and important person for me. To Kasia for always supporting me even
during the hardest moments. To Weronika for her fantastic drawings and for being a
brilliand friend. To David for helping me with the graphic design of this dissertation.
To Ula, Agnieszka, June, Ivonne, Aintzane, Yvonne for being so wonderful. Many
thanks to Clémence and Lisa who were so kind to me through the last days. You are all
fantastic and I´m so happy that I have shared all these moments with you!
Still, the best is to come yet!
This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [PSI2011-26315]; the University of the
Basque Country [grant number IT-666-13 and UFI 11/04]; and Research Personnel Education and Training Program
scholarship granted by the Basque Government to Anna Wlodarczyk (BFI-2011-17).
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CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................................... 15
Chapter 1. Positive Effects of Communal Coping in the Aftermath
of A Collective Trauma: The Case of 2010 Chilean
Earthquake .................................................................... 45
Chapter 2. Individual and Collective Posttraumatic Growth in
Victims of Natural Disasters: A Multidimensional
Perspective .................................................................... 67
Chapter 3. Communal Coping and Posttraumatic Growth in a
Context of Natural Disasters in Spain, Chile and
Colombia ........................................................................ 91
Chapter 4. Religious and Secular Collective Gatherings, Perceived
Emotional Synchrony and Self-Transcendent
Emotions: Two Longitudinal Studies .......................... 117
Chapter 5. Hope and Anger as Mediators Between Collective
Action Frameworks and Participation in Collective
Mobilization: The Case of 15-M .................................. 165
Discussion ...................................................................................... 193
References ...................................................................................... 215

INTRODUCTION

Collective processes and emotions are currently the object of a major
revival in psychology and the social sciences in general (e.g., Collins, 2004;
Goodwin, Jasper, & Polletta, 2000; von Scheve & Ismer, 2013; von Scheve &
Salmela, 2014). Collective identity (Haslam, Jetten, Postmes, & Haslam,
2009), collective optimal experiences (Walker, 2010), participation in
collective emotional gatherings (Collins, 2004, Páez, Rimé, Basabe,
Wlodarczyk, & Zumeta, 2015) and in social movements (Drury & Reicher,
2009, Páez, Javaloy, Wlodarczyk, Espelt, & Rimé, 2013) have recently been
proposed as entailing major positive effects for social cohesion, social
functioning and individual well-being.
Furthermore, literature frequently depict displays of solidarity and
increased community cohesion in the aftermath of natural disasters (e.g.
Rodriguez, Trainor, & Quarantelli, 2006; Bonanno, Brewin, Kaniasty, & La
Greca, 2010; Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, Wyche, & Pfefferbaum, 2008),
political violence (e.g. Drury, Cocking, & Reicher, 2009; Gilligan, Pasquale,
& Samii, 2014; Lykes, Cabrera, & Martin Beristain, 2007; Páez et al., 2007)
and mass tragedies (Hawdon, & Ryan, 2011; Hawdon, Oksanen, & Räsänen,
2012). Therefore, collective trauma entail a diminished emphasis on the self
(only I have suffered) and a shift to the others (we have all suffered; we are
all in it together) which results in widespread feeling of community and
togetherness (Jacob, Mawson, Payton, & Guignard, 2008; Schwarz, 2014).
Emile Durkheim (1912) was the first author to describe the social and
individual consequences of collective processes. This century-old vision
overlaps considerably with the findings of current empirical research.
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