The Social Consequences of Frequent Versus Infrequent Apologizing

The effectiveness of interpersonal apologies is well established, but most existing research has examined the benefits of isolated apologies. How do apologies function when considered in the context of a transgressor’s apology baseline—the frequency with which they tend to apologize for their behavi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 2023-03, Vol.49 (3), p.331-343
Main Authors: Schumann, Karina, Ritchie, Emily G., Forest, Amanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apologies
Communion
Conflict resolution
Humans
Judgment
Negotiating
Personality
Romantic relationships
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Summary:The effectiveness of interpersonal apologies is well established, but most existing research has examined the benefits of isolated apologies. How do apologies function when considered in the context of a transgressor’s apology baseline—the frequency with which they tend to apologize for their behavior? We examined whether people consider others’ apology baselines when evaluating both their character and specific apologies from them. In Study 1, participants judged a character with a high (vs. low) apology baseline as higher in communion and lower in agency. In Study 2, participants judged romantic partners with high (vs. low) apology baselines as higher in communion, but only lower in agency when they perceived these frequent apologies as low-quality. In both studies, having a high apology baseline was also indirectly associated with more favorable reactions to a specific apology via higher communion judgments, revealing the role of apology baselines in shaping conflict resolution processes.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/01461672211065286