As anyone who watches the news knows, relations between social groups often involve intense emotions. The most obvious examples are negative. In Northern Ireland, Catholics feel angry and resentful about their perceived mistreatment by Protestants. The present inhabitants of Gibraltar are fearful of Spain because they mistrust this powerful neighbor's intentions. Many Serbs in the former Yugoslavia felt contempt and hatred toward Muslims living in the same country. Of course, intergroup emotions with more positive implications are also possible. For example, Irish Americans might feel sympathy for Catholics in Northern Ireland because they identify with that group's suffering and regard it as unjust. Germans might feel guilty because of the despicable way that Jews were treated by their compatriots in the first half of the twentieth century. Supporters of a soccer team may feel happy about the achievement of another team if that success was achieved at the expense of a hated rival.
What all of these examples have in common is the fact that the feelings in question primarily depend on belonging to one group as opposed to another, and not on any individual disposition or behavior of anyone involved. Racists despise members of other racial groups not because they believe that any individual member of these groups has negative attributes or has done something reprehensible, but rather because they believe that all of them have these negative attributes or are prone to doing reprehensible things. People who feel guilty about their social group's behavior do not experience this guilt because of harm that they