The Effectiveness of Explicit Demand and Emotional Expression Apology Cues in Predicting Victim Readiness to Accept an Apology

Abstract

This study examines the effects of apology cues following a relational transgression. Three competing theoretical explanations are examined in a test of two types of cues a victim might use to encourage an apology: An emotional expression cue in which the victim states the negative outcomes of the transgression and an explicit demand cue in which the victim demands an apology directly. We cross completely emotional expression and explicit demand cues in an experimental design to compare their independent and conjoint effects on the victims' psychological readiness to accept an apology. Results suggest that both cue types are associated with more positive relational outcomes than a spontaneous apology.

Keywords:

• Apology Cues
• Attribution Theory
• Emotional Expression
• Justice Theories
• Relational Repair
• Transgression

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted with assistance from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, while the first author was an undergraduate.

Notes

*p < .05. ** p < .01, two-tailed.

*Contrasts: no EE/no ED = 3, EE/no ED = −1, no EE/ED = −1, EE/ED = −1.

*Contrasts: no EE/no ED = −2, EE/no ED = 1, no EE/ED = 0, EE/ED = 1.

*Contrasts: no EE/no ED = −2, EE/no ED = 0, no EE/ED = 1, EE/ED = 1.

*Contrasts: no EE/no ED = 0, EE/no ED = 1, no EE/ED = −1, EE/ED = 0.

Because we only have one female and one male actor, individual actor differences are perfectly confounded with victim sex and transgressor sex. That is, when individual actor changes, so does victim sex and transgressor sex. Therefore, any differences between actors could be equally likely to be attributable to victim sex or transgressor sex. We did not design this study to allow the parsing of effects due to individual actor differences, victim sex, or transgressor sex. We switched the roles so we would have more than one person enacting the messages and the results could not be reasonably explained away as being an artifact of their individual differences. As such we collapse the four conditions run with each actor and analyze only the 2 × 2, examining the effects of emotional expression and explicit demand cues, not individual actor differences, victim sex, or transgressor sex.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aili Peyton

Aili Peyton (MA, 2012, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa) is an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Ryan Goei

Ryan Goei (PhD, 2003, Michigan State University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.