University of Winchester.
University of Pittsburgh.
J Soc Psychol. 2022 Nov 2;162(6):691-700. doi: 10.1080/00224545.2021.1948812. Epub 2021 Jul 30.
Although apologies are effective at promoting reconciliation, perpetrators often choose not to apologize because doing so can be threatening to the self. We hypothesized that dispositional self-protection would be negatively associated with willingness to apologize, but only when the transgression pertained to the self rather than another person. Only in that case would self-positivity be threatened, thereby activating the self-protection motive. In addition, we hypothesized that the negative association between self-protection and willingness to apologize for self-referent offenses would be serially mediated by responsibility-taking and guilt. This would be so because perpetrators can self-protect by lowering their felt responsibility and, in turn, reduce guilt for the transgression. The results were consistent with the hypotheses. We discuss implications of this motivational account for unwillingness to apologize.
尽管道歉在促进和解方面非常有效，但施害者往往选择不道歉，因为这样做可能会对自我构成威胁。我们假设，性格上的自我保护会与道歉的意愿呈负相关，但只有当冒犯涉及到自己而不是他人时才会如此。只有在这种情况下，自我肯定才会受到威胁，从而激活自我保护动机。此外，我们还假设，自我保护与为自我参照的冒犯行为道歉的意愿之间的负相关，将通过承担责任和内疚感的连续中介作用来体现。之所以会这样，是因为施害者可以通过降低自己的责任感来进行自我保护，从而减少对违规行为的内疚感。结果与假设一致。我们讨论了这种动机解释对不愿意道歉的影响。
