Guilt, empathy, and apology

► Theories have predicted that guilt and empathy are related to apology. ► Relationships were examined among dispositional guilt, shame, empathy, and apology. ► Guilt (but not shame) and empathy emerged as predictors of apology. ► Implications for conceptualizations of apology are discussed. Two stu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2012-11, Vol.53 (7), p.917-922
Main Authors: Howell, Andrew J., Turowski, Jessica B., Buro, Karen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Apology
Biological and medical sciences
Empathy
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Guilt
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Shame
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:► Theories have predicted that guilt and empathy are related to apology. ► Relationships were examined among dispositional guilt, shame, empathy, and apology. ► Guilt (but not shame) and empathy emerged as predictors of apology. ► Implications for conceptualizations of apology are discussed. Two studies examined correlates of apology predicted by the theoretical conceptualizations of Tangney and colleagues (e.g., Tangney, 1995) and Sandage, Worthington, Hight, and Berry (2000) concerning guilt and empathy in people’s responses to interpersonal transgressions. In Study 1, 90 undergraduates completed measures of guilt, shame, and apology. As predicted, greater guilt (but not greater shame) was associated with greater generalized willingness to apologize, greater endorsement of the importance of apology in relation to a hypothetical transgression scenario, and greater inclusion of important elements of an apology in a written response to the scenario. In Study 2, with 338 undergraduates, greater guilt, lesser shame, and greater empathy were associated with a greater generalized willingness to apologize. Results are considered in relation to viewing apology as an adaptive capacity.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2012.06.021