Imprints of War: An Analysis of Implicit Prejudice Among Victims, Ex-Combatants, and Communities in Colombia

Armed conflict impacts individuals at psychological level by affecting the mechanisms of information processing, opinion formation, and decision-making. By means of a computer-based Implicit Association Test (IAT), we tested intergroup prejudices of 258 war victims, former guerrillas and paramilitaries, and receiving communities in Colombia. We found that differing levels of exposure to war-related experiences help to explain the observed systematic bias, both implicit and explicit, against former combatants, among communities, and particularly so among war victims. We concluded on the need to re-assess the public policy on reintegration and reconciliation in the face of generally unacknowledged psychological effects of war on people's attitudes. Public Significance Statement Differing levels of exposure to war-related experiences help to explain the observed systematic bias, both implicit and explicit, against former combatants, among communities, and particularly so among war victims.