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). NNoo mmaann iiss aann iissllaannnddd,, eennttiirree ooff iittsseellmff ee vveerryy mmaann iiss aa ppiieeccee ooff tthhee ccoonnttiinneeennttt,, aa ppaarrtt ooff tthhee mmaaiinn iiff aa cclloodd bbee wwaasshheedd aawwaayy bbyy tthhee ssseeaaa,, EEEuuurrrooopppeee iiisss ttthhheee llleeessssss,,, aaasss wwweeellll aass iiff aa pprroommoonnttoorryy wweeerreee,, aass wweellll aass iiff aa mmaannoorr ooff tthhyy ffrriiieennddss oorr ooff tthhiinnee oowwnn wweeerreee,, aannyy mmaann’’ss ddeeaatthh ddiimmiinniisshheess mmee,, bbeecccaaauuussseeee III aaammm iiinnnvvvooolllvvveeeddd iiinnn mmmaaannnkkkiiinnnddd,, aannnddd ttthhheeerrreeefffooorrreee nnneeevvveeerrr ssseeennnddd tttooo kkknnnooowww fffooorrr wwwhhhoommmm tttthhheee bbbeellllll tttoollllllss –– iiittt tttoollllllss fffoorr ttthhheeee.. JJJooohhhnnn DDDooonnnnnneee,, 111666222444 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. Page |15