Apology and Its Acceptance: Perceived Reconciliatory Attitudes Reduce Outgroup Dehumanization

Abstract

Based on real-life intergroup animosities originating from a historical conflict, the current study examined how the perceived stance of the outgroup about the conflict affects the dehumanization of the outgroup. In Study 1 (N = 120), Korean undergraduates attributed more human nature to the Japanese after reading an article that the Japanese government did (vs. refused to) issue an official apology for a historical wrong. In turn, the more human nature assigned to the Japanese predicted higher expectations about positive mutual relations in the future. Similarly, in Study 2 (N = 209), Japanese undergraduates attributed more human uniqueness to Koreans after reading an article that an official apology for a historical wrong from Japan was accepted (vs. rejected) by Koreans. The higher the perceived human uniqueness of Koreans was, the higher were the willingness to help and the expectations of a positive relationship in the future. The findings demonstrate how mutual dehumanization can be reduced as a result of the other side’s reconciliatory stances and can further contribute to improving intergroup relations.

Harnessing Dehumanization Theory, Modern Media, and an Intervention Tournament to Reduce Support for Retributive War Crimes

“…These results provide an important, ecologically valid extension of prior work pointing to the centrality of morality in perceptions of humanity (Brandt & Reyna, 2011;Phillips, 2022;Schwartz & Struch, 1989) and suggesting that highlighting a target's moral agency or remorse can (re)humanize them (Borinca et al, 2021;Jin et al, 2022;Khamitov et al, 2016). Whereas that research was theoretical or used relatively contrived paradigms (e.g., experimenter-created vignettes; Khamitov et al, 2016), we drew on it to develop an intervention with real media content that reduced support for war crimes during an emotionally charged military attackdemonstrating the promise of applying insights from basic dehumanization research to promote peace (see also .…”

“…Although perpetrators of egregious harm are often denied an essentially human moral compass (Kelman, 1973;Phillips, 2022), their expressions of moral agency or remorse can (re)humanize them (Borinca et al, 2021;Jin et al, 2022;Khamitov et al, 2016). Therefore, we aimed to expose Americans to Russian soldiers' essentially human moral qualities following the invasion.…”

Apology mismatch: An experimental approach to Japan's apologies to Korea

“…Similarly, Jin et al. (2022) reported that Korean participants being informed that the Japanese government did issue an official apology for a historical wrong, and Japanese participants being informed that an official apology for a historical wrong from Japan was accepted by Koreans, resulted in the reduction of mutual dehumanization and improved positive intergroup relations. It seems that at least in some cases, cultural factors can differentially affect how apologies are received.…”

“…They found that the issuance of intergroup apologies was associated with lower perceived remorse towards the outgroup only among Korean participants; no significant effect of intergroup apology on perceived remorse was found among their American participants. Similarly, Jin et al (2022) reported that Korean participants being informed that the Japanese government did issue an official apology for a historical wrong, and Japanese participants being informed that an official apology for a historical wrong from Japan was accepted by Koreans, resulted in the reduction of mutual dehumanization and improved positive intergroup relations. It seems that at least in some cases, cultural factors can differentially affect how apologies are received.…”

Harnessing Dehumanization Theory, Modern Media, and an Intervention Tournament to Reduce Support for Retributive War Crimes

“…To do so, we leveraged the rich media content at our fingertips by searching open-access online repositories (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo) for videos that humanized Russian soldiers. We identified six videos we believed would humanize Russian soldiers by individuating them 54,63,64 , highlighting their moral agency through their opposition to the invasion 42,65,66 , and revealing their remorse for their participation in it 53,67,68 .…”