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Effects of Timing and Sincerity of an Apology on Satisfaction and Changes in Negative Feelings During Conflicts

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  • SUNY Buffalo Undergraduate Program at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM)

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Using attribution theory, this study examined the effects of apology timing, apology sincerity, and feeling understood on communication satisfaction and changes in negative emotions (e.g., anger and sadness) during conflict discussions. Sixty romantic couples engaged in conversations about recurring disagreements in their relationships. One partner from each couple apologized either earlier or later during the discussions. The findings showed that different variability existed between the timing of the apology and reports of communication satisfaction. Later apologies, rather than earlier apologies, given during conflict discussions that were completed in less than 10 minutes were associated with more communication satisfaction. Earlier apologies, rather than later apologies, given during conflict discussions that could have continued past 10 minutes were associated with more communication satisfaction. Additionally, reports of feeling understood and apology sincerity predicted communication satisfaction and apologies seen as more sincere were related to reports of less hard negative emotions such as anger, but were not related to reports of soft negative emotions, such as sadness. These findings have implications for the process of forgiveness and the mediation of disputes.
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... Existing research has categorized apology timing into early and later stages, finding that later apologies are more effective in improving communication satisfaction, service satisfaction, and emotional responses (Ebesu Hubbard et al., 2013;Frantz & Bennigson, 2005;Min et al., 2021). However, these studies have primarily focused on alleviating negative feelings rather than addressing the more complex process of trust repair (Kim, 2018). ...
... Moreover, this study extends the universal role of emotional expression in relationship repair through a cross-cultural perspective. Previous related research has primarily focused on scenarios within Western cultural contexts, including service failures (Im et al., 2021), romantic conflicts (Ebesu Hubbard et al., 2013), and friendship breakdowns (Frantz & Bennigson, 2005). These studies have shown that later apologies are more effective in alleviating negative feelings, emphasizing the importance of allowing victims to express their emotions before an apology is delivered (Ebesu Hubbard et al., 2013;Frantz & Bennigson, 2005;Im et al., 2021;Min et al., 2020). ...
... Previous related research has primarily focused on scenarios within Western cultural contexts, including service failures (Im et al., 2021), romantic conflicts (Ebesu Hubbard et al., 2013), and friendship breakdowns (Frantz & Bennigson, 2005). These studies have shown that later apologies are more effective in alleviating negative feelings, emphasizing the importance of allowing victims to express their emotions before an apology is delivered (Ebesu Hubbard et al., 2013;Frantz & Bennigson, 2005;Im et al., 2021;Min et al., 2020). By revealing the critical role of emotional expression in Eastern cultural contexts and confirming it as a vital prerequisite for trust repair, this study expands upon these conclusions. ...
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Trust is a critical yet fragile component of interpersonal interactions, often leading to significant consequences when compromised. This has propelled trust repair to the forefront of academic research. Despite extensive investigations, effective strategies and optimal timing for trust repair have remained poorly understood. This study aimed to identify the most effective timing for trust repair and to evaluate how different apology attribution modes impact its effectiveness at various timings. In Study 1, our research explored the dynamics between trust repair timing and apologies through scenario simulation. We found that later apologies were more effective. However, a further decline in trust occurred if victims did not receive an apology after they had expressed their emotions and thoughts. In Study 2, we divided apologies into distinct attribution modes and observed a significant interaction with trust repair timing. In early trust repair, the apology attribution modes demonstrated comparable effectiveness, but during the later trust repair, internally attributed apologies significantly outperformed externally attributed ones. Study 3 reinforced these findings by altering the types of interpersonal relationship and the consequence of trust breach in a trust game, thereby solidifying our conclusions. This research provides empirical support for how to make more targeted apologies in real-life situations.
... We encourage parent couples, and couples who hope to become parents, to teach their children about apology and forgiveness, particularly about the benefits associated with seeking and conveying forgiveness. However, we encourage parents to also teach their children that giving an apology will not always lead to positive outcomes, such as when the apology is perceived as insincere by the recipient (Hubbard et al., 2013;Jeter & Brannon, 2018;Lewicki et al., 2016;Schumann, 2012), and if the apology is given after repeated transgressions or consistent negative behavior. ...
... In these cases, perhaps it may help for a therapist to assist a partner who is consistently engaging in transgressions to change their behavior (Russell et al., 2018). Nevertheless, if practicing communicating apologies and forgiveness may help a couple repair their relationship, it may help partners to practice giving sincere apologies to one another (Jeter & Brannon, 2018;Lewicki et al., 2016;Schumann, 2012), and to practice listening to each other during conflict discussions (Hubbard et al., 2013). Regarding apology prompting, it may be beneficial for parents to practice apology prompting in an effective manner that teaches their children to give sincere apologies when they commit a transgression. ...
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The willingness to apologize and forgive is robustly associated with relational and personal wellbeing, and thus, it may be worthwhile for children to be taught about the importance of apologies and forgiveness through apology prompting from their parents. However, there is limited research on parental apology prompting, as well as on parental attitudes on the developmental importance of child apologies. Guided by Family System Theory, we investigated whether the proclivity to apologize to and forgive a romantic partner is associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. We also examined the role of childhood experiences with apologies, and moderators of these associations. We recruited a sample of parents of 3–10-year-olds. Parents’ proclivity to apologize to their romantic partner and their childhood experiences with apologies were positively associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. The association between the proclivity to apologize to the romantic partner and parental apology prompting was mediated by positive parental attitudes on the developmental importance of child apologies. The proclivity to retaliate against the romantic partner was negatively associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. Political conservatism and romantic relationship satisfaction moderated the association between the proclivity to apologize to the romantic partner and parental apology prompting. Further, we share measures of childhood experiences with apologies and parental attitudes on apologies that may be useful for future research. Results suggest that it may be advantageous for parent couples to prompt apologies from their children.
... Although several works exist e.g. [67][68][69] that talk about the process of mapping these animations based on psychological rules like nodding on agreement [70] or sad emotion for apology [71], only a few studies [72] have focused on automatically mapping these animations to their corresponding intent. ...
Thesis
Virtual human heads are digital representations of existing or synthetic human heads, capable of exhibiting realistic behavior. They are generated, modelled, animated and rendered using a combination of computer vision, computer graphics, and AI methodologies. Virtual human heads are a crucial component in applications and research on fields such as healthcare, human-computer interactions, gaming, VFX, AR & VR,social studies and data privacy. Recent advancements in generative vision models have progressed the generation and manipulation of realistic and effective virtual human heads. Despite the growing interest in these topics, there are limitations and research gaps in the current body of work, that require innovative and effective solutions. In our work, we address some of the relevant research questions in the realm of virtual human heads, leveraging the capabilities of some of the latest generative vision models. First, we perform an extensive review of some of the traditional and modern approaches in generating realistic behavior and appearance in virtual humans, and perform a comparative study among them. We address the challenges and open research questions in the domain of virtual human heads, and thus lay the foundation for our subsequent contributions. One such contribution involves proposing a method to perform manipulation of semantic features on albedo UV map of 3D virtual heads. We discuss the effectivity of this approach and show its potential significance in creating and editing diverse appearances of virtual humans in fields such as gaming, and AR/VR. Finally, we address the critical task of face de-identification in videos. We investigate some of v the key requirements of successful privacy preserving de-identified videos, and propose a novel pipeline to achieve the results, and also evaluate them on suitable quantified metrics. Through this thesis, we investigate, discuss and address some of the relevant and important problem statements persisting in the realm of virtual human heads using generative vision models. We aim to advance the understanding and practical applications in this area, and pave the way for future research work for safe, realistic and diverse digital human representations and interactions.
... One consideration from the broader apology literature for what might make apologies acceptable to victims in victim-offender mediation is that there must be a "ripeness" for conflict resolution (Coleman, 1997) or victims must feel a readiness for an apology. Empirical research highlights the importance of how the timing of the apology factors into how ready a victim feels for an apology (Hubbard et al., 2013). For example, Frantz and Bennigson (2005) conducted a study that asked participants to imagine a hypothetical wrongdoing and a discussion with the offender that resulted in receiving a delayed apology, an early apology, or no apology. ...
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Objective: We conducted three preregistered studies to examine whether victims of crime are more receptive to apologies in victim–offender mediation if they feel they know the “whole” truth about a crime. Hypotheses: We predicted that making salient the completeness (vs. incompleteness) of knowledge about a crime would lead victims to (a) have a greater sense of truth knowing and (b) view an apology more favorably. Method: Participants in Study 1 (N = 380; Mage = 41.2 years; 51% men; 78% White) and Study 2 (N = 550; Mage = 41.0 years; 65% women; 72% White) imagined being the victim of cybercrime. Participants in Study 3 (N = 670; Mage = 42.7 years; 52% men; 72% White) were real crime victims. Participants imagined taking part in victim–offender mediation during which the offender apologized, and then they evaluated the apology after answering questions that made salient what they either knew or did not know about the crime (complete knowledge salience vs. incomplete knowledge salience). Participants in Study 2 received additional information about the crime from either the offender or the police to test whether truth source acts as a moderator. Results: Participants in the complete (vs. incomplete) knowledge salience condition reported greater truth knowing (Study 1 d = 1.40, Study 2 d = 1.26, Study 3 d = 0.58), readiness for an apology (Study 1 d = 0.25; Study 2 d = 0.23; Study 3 d = 0.09, nonsignificant), perceived completeness of an apology (Study 1 d = 0.26, Study 2 d = 0.31, Study 3 d = 0.19), and acceptance of an apology (Study 1 d = 0.22; Study 2 d = 0.21; Study 3 d = 0.10, nonsignificant). In Study 2, truth source moderated the effect only on apology acceptance (η² = .009). Across the three studies, complete (vs. incomplete) knowledge salience was indirectly positively related to apology readiness, apology completeness, and apology acceptance (nonsignificant in Study 3), via truth knowing. Conclusions: Instances of victim–offender mediation should ensure that victims’ need for truth is satisfied because this may increase the effectiveness of apologies.
... Apology is recognized as a common and often potent conciliatory device following the infliction of severe injury, thus playing a significant role in the forgiveness process (Ebesu Huberd et al., 2013;Hu et al., 2019). They typically include the offender's expression of remorse, acknowledging an injury, taking responsibility for its infliction, recognition of its negative impact, a promise that it will not reoccur and a clear request for forgiveness (Morse & Metts, 2011;Roschk & Kaiser, 2012). ...
... However, one can also argue that revealing negative information late in a process might be perceived as being less than truthful (even if legally sanctioned) and might lead to negative ascriptions about candidate character (Hebl & Skorinko, 2005). Research on apologies has consistently showed that if apologies are perceived as untimely or artificially delayed, they are less effective in trust repair (Ebesu Hubbard et al, 2013;Jehle et al., 2012;Wirtz & Mattila, 2004). Flake (2019) also suggested that later timing might not make much of a difference, noting that Ban-the-Box laws do not directly prohibit discrimination against ex-offenders but perhaps just delay the point at which discrimination takes place. ...
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Despite the large number of individuals with criminal records in the United States, research on their employment transitions and hiring challenges remains scarce. Further, given the over-representation of people of color in the US justice system, investigations incorporating the potential effects of race/ethnicity are crucial. In the present study, we examine the effects of different reparative impression management tactics for ex-offender applicants of various races/ethnicities in both a prehire and postoffer context and the mechanisms underlying those effects. Using an experimental design, we link specific reparative impression management tactics to employment outcomes through perceived remorse (Studies 1 and 2) and trustworthiness (Study 2), finding that Latino and Black candidates’ engagement in reparative impression management tactics had greater impact on perceptions of remorse, trustworthiness, and hiring evaluations than did the use of such tactics by White candidates. Disclosure timing did not have large impacts on evaluations. Our findings contribute to research on reparative impression management in hiring contexts more broadly, as well as informing ex-offender job seekers which tactics are most useful when disclosing a criminal record, how demographics may impact these impression management techniques, and potential optimal disclosure timing relevant to current legislative contexts.
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