SBP: The Role of Apologies in Promoting Intergroup Relations

美国黑人意识到种族歧视在美国的遗留问题，以及不平等如何持续存在并带来不良后果。事实上，群体间的互动可能带有种族色彩，并包含不信任。在人际冲突的情况下，这种不信任可能会特别成问题。如果不加以解决，这些冲突可能会危及人们的人际关系、家庭和工作环境，以及身心健康。尽管几十年的研究表明，道歉往往是解决这些冲突的关键，但道歉只有在受害者认为道歉是真诚的悔恨行为时才有效——这种看法在信任度低的情况下会受到影响。因此，多数群体的冒犯者向少数群体的受害者道歉可能在促进和解方面效果较差，因为他们被认为是不值得信赖和不真诚的。目前的项目系统地研究了人际道歉在群体间情况下的作用。本研究旨在探讨道歉在什么情况下能更有效地促进群体间和解，对道歉者的信任和对道歉诚意的感知是否有助于解释群体间道歉效果的差异，以及是否可以通过减少受害者对种族偏见的期望的背景特征来增加跨群体道歉的好处。本研究研究了多数群体的冒犯者是否能够通过真诚的道歉来传达道歉的诚意，进而促进跨种族冲突的解决。这项研究揭示了道歉是否、何时以及为什么在跨种族的两个人中起着不同的作用，从而有助于我们理解在重要的群体间环境中和解的障碍。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Black Americans are aware of the legacy of racial discrimination in the United States and how inequalities persist with undesirable consequences. Indeed, intergroup interactions can carry racial overtones and incorporate distrust. One context where this distrust might be especially problematic involves interpersonal conflict situations. If left unresolved, these conflicts can jeopardize people's relationships, home and work environments, and physical and psychological health. Although decades of research have demonstrated that an apology is often the key to resolving these conflicts, apologies are only effective if they are perceived by victims as sincere acts of remorse -- a perception that suffers under low levels of trust. Thus, apologies from majority group transgressors to minority group victims might be less effective at promoting reconciliation because they are perceived as untrustworthy and insincere. The current project systematically examines how interpersonal apologies function in intergroup situations. This program of research examines when apologies are more effective at promoting intergroup reconciliation, whether trust in the apologizer and perceived apology sincerity help explain intergroup differences in apology effectiveness, and whether the benefits of cross-group apologies can be increased by contextual features that reduce victims' expectations of racial bias. This work studies whether majority group transgressors can convey apology sincerity, and in turn enhance cross-race conflict resolution, by offering sincere apologies. This research sheds light on whether, when, and why apologies function differently in cross-race dyads, thus contributing to our understanding of barriers to reconciliation in important intergroup contexts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.