Department of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, B550 Loeb Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 Feb;102(2):306-22. doi: 10.1037/a0024838. Epub 2011 Aug 1.
It is widely assumed that official apologies for historical transgressions can lay the groundwork for intergroup forgiveness, but evidence for a causal relationship between intergroup apologies and forgiveness is limited. Drawing on the infrahumanization literature, we argue that a possible reason for the muted effectiveness of apologies is that people diminish the extent to which they see outgroup members as able to experience complex, uniquely human emotions (e.g., remorse). In Study 1, Canadians forgave Afghanis for a friendly-fire incident to the extent that they perceived Afghanis as capable of experiencing uniquely human emotions (i.e., secondary emotions such as anguish) but not nonuniquely human emotions (i.e., primary emotions such as fear). Intergroup forgiveness was reduced when transgressor groups expressed secondary emotions rather than primary emotions in their apology (Studies 2a and 2b), an effect that was mediated by trust in the genuineness of the apology (Study 2b). Indeed, an apology expressing secondary emotions aroused no more forgiveness than a no-apology control (Study 3) and less forgiveness than an apology with no emotion (Study 4). Consistent with an infrahumanization perspective, effects of primary versus secondary emotional expression did not emerge when the apology was offered for an ingroup transgression (Study 3) or when an outgroup apology was delivered through an ingroup proxy (Study 4). Also consistent with predictions, these effects were demonstrated only by those who tended to deny uniquely human qualities to the outgroup (Study 5). Implications for intergroup apologies and movement toward reconciliation are discussed.
人们普遍认为，对历史错误的正式道歉可以为群体间的宽恕奠定基础，但群体间道歉与宽恕之间存在因果关系的证据有限。借鉴次人类化文献，我们认为道歉效果不明显的一个可能原因是，人们会降低他们认为群体外成员能够体验复杂、独特人类情感（例如悔恨）的程度。在研究 1 中，加拿大人对阿富汗人在友军火力误伤事件中的宽恕程度取决于他们认为阿富汗人是否能够体验独特的人类情感（即二级情感，如痛苦），而不是非独特的人类情感（即一级情感，如恐惧）。当冒犯群体在道歉中表达二级情感而不是一级情感时，群体间的宽恕会减少（研究 2a 和 2b），这种效应受到对道歉真实性的信任的中介作用（研究 2b）。事实上，表达二级情感的道歉引起的宽恕并不比不道歉的控制组多（研究 3），也不如没有情感的道歉（研究 4）多。与次人类化观点一致的是，当道歉是为群体内的错误而道歉时（研究 3），或者当群体外的道歉是由群体内的代理人传达时（研究 4），一级和二级情感表达的效果并没有出现。同样符合预测的是，这些影响只出现在那些倾向于否认群体外具有独特人类品质的人身上（研究 5）。讨论了群体间道歉和走向和解的意义。
