Conflict in Poland: example of empathic failure?

In recent years Polish society has been torn by conflict. Although initially this was a problem of political nature, lately it started to affect lives of average individuals. Month by month the socio-political situation in Poland continues to escalate, yet almost no research has been done on the reasons underlying this increasing polarization. This paper aims to change that by answering the following research questions: is the current conflict in Poland an example of an intergroup failure of empathy? And, if so, what social and psychological factors contribute to these failures of empathy in Poland? Two studies – media analysis and internet experiment (N=231) – were conducted. Results of these studies show that the socio-political conflict in Poland can, at least to some degree, be understood as an example of intergroup failure of empathy and that this empathic failure is related to how people understand morality. Implications for practitioners are discussed.