Victims' Responses to Apologies: The Effects of Offender Responsibility and Offense Severity
- 1 August 1994
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 134 (4) , 457-464
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1994.9712196
Abstract
Because they impose constraints on those who receive them, apologies are seldom rejected (Bennett & Dewberry, in press). It was hypothesized that two variables, degree of offender responsibility and outcome severity, determine whether an apology is rejected. Subjects in Scotland role played the victim of a negative event in which offender responsibility and outcome severity were independently manipulated. The findings provided substantial support for the hypothesis.Keywords
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