The author investigated (a) the effects of a victim's perspective taking and a transgressor's apology on interpersonal forgiveness and (b) forgiveness as a mode of dissonance reduction. Before the participants read a scenario describing a situation in which they imagined being mistreated by a classmate, the author randomly assigned them to 1 of 4 perspective-taking conditions: (a) recalling times when they had mistreated or hurt others (i.e., the recall-self-as-transgressor condition); (b) imagining how they would think, feel, and behave if they were the classmate (i.e., the imagine-self condition); (c) imagining how the classmate would think, feel, and behave (i.e., the imagine-other condition); or (d) imagining the situation from their own (i.e., the victim's/control) perspective. After reading the scenario, the participants read an apology from the classmate. The participants in the recall-self-as-transgressor condition were significantly more likely than those in the control condition to (a) make benevolent attributions, (b) experience benevolent emotional reactions, and (c) forgive the transgressor. The relationship between the perspective-taking manipulation and forgiveness was mediated by the benevolent attributions and positive emotional reactions experienced by the victims.

Guided by Robinson’s general belief that polite language yields trust from others, the authors examined the likelihood of apology acceptance in two cultures (Japan and the United States).Prior to reading a scenario in which they were to imagine being mistreated by their classmates, the participants were randomly assigned to one of three perspective-taking conditions: (a) recall times when they mistreated or hurt others in the past; (b) imagine how the victimized classmate would think, feel, and behave in the scenario; or (c) imagine the situation as the personal victim. Participants then read the scenario, which was followed by an elaborate apology from the classmate. Results from both cultures indicated that, compared with the participants in the control condition, the participants in the recall-self-as-wrongdoer condition were significantly more likely to accept the apology from the classmate and forgive the transgression. Expected and unexpected cultural differences also were found.

Being accused of breaking a social norm often forces the accused person to offer an explanation, or an account, for the alleged misdeed. In the present study, American and Japanese participants rated the appropriateness of 4 account types as a function of status of the transgressor and status of the victim. A vignette described a situation in which a person was accused of breaking a promise at work and asked to give an account. While Japanese participants rated apology as significantly more appropriate than did American participants, the Americans rated justification as significantly more appropriate than did the Japanese. Status did not influence Americans' ratings of account appropriateness, but the status of the victim did influence the Japanese participants' ratings. An attributional analysis of the data revealed the same underlying motivational pattern for the two cultures.

Recent research (Takaku, 2001;Takaku, Weiner, & Ohbuchi, 2001) tested and supported the hypothesis that injured parties' motivation to forgive their wrongdoers could be enhanced through inducing hypocrisy-dissonance by making the injured parties aware of their own past wrongdoing. The present study tested and supported the model's applicability to people's road-rage experiences by showing that individuals who were aware of their own past reckless driving generated more hypocrisy-induced dissonance, more positive attributions, and less negative emotional reactions than individuals who were not aware of their own past reckless driving. Implications for future research and possible applications of the model in reducing road rage are discussed.An individual was driving along a local road when another driver began tailgating, honking, and yelling. When they both pulled off the road, the individual confronted the tailgater about his bad driving, and then the tailgater pulled out a knife and stabbed the individual in the chest (Police investigate road rage stabbing, 2004).A 25-year-old New Jersey motorist was tailgated by another driver. As he was getting out of his car to confront the tailgater, he was run over by the tailgater (Road rage hit and run, 2004).A 17-year-old boy was tailgating a motorist. They both pulled over, a dispute ensued, and the boy was shot (as cited in James & Nahl, 2000). Defining Road RageAlthough some disagreement exists among researchers on what specific reckless driving behaviors should be considered road rage, some form of the

In two cross-national studies, we investigated the existence of a perpetrator-victim account estimation bias and how this bias can be reduced or eliminated when estimating the perpetrator's use of a mixed account; that is, an account in which the perpetrator not only apologizes but also explains mitigating and justifiable circumstances. Japanese and American participants took either the perspective of the perpetrator or the victim and estimated the likelihood of the perpetrator's use of each account. The results supported our hypothesis in both national samples. The implications of the bias and the role of the mixed account in reducing it are discussed.