The appraisal gap: Why victim and transgressor groups disagree on the need for a collective apology

Abstract

After an intergroup transgression, victims often advocate for a collective apology that the transgressor group is reluctant to provide. We argue that this is partly caused by a discrepancy in the extent to which victim and perpetrator group members appraise transgressions through an intergroup lens. In three experiments, participants read about individuals assaulting members of a racial out‐group. Consistent with predictions, victim group members were more likely than transgressors and third parties to see the events as typical of the transgressor group, more likely to appraise the events as intergroup in nature, and through these processes were more desiring of a collective apology. Transgressors' reluctance to issue a collective apology was not a sign of harm minimization. Indeed, they were more likely than victims to seek an interpersonal apology and less forgiving of the individual transgressors. Cognitive and motivational mechanisms were proposed, although evidence for the latter was limited.

Positive and negative intergroup contact predict Black and White Americans' judgments about police violence against Black Americans

“…Black Americans were also more likely than White Americans to see the events as part of a broader trend toward racial injustice (e.g., racial profiling) and to see people's responses to the events as reflecting broader concern about negative treatment of Black Americans at the hands of White police officers. These findings are in line with recent evidence that victim groups are more likely than transgressor groups to appraise transgressions through an intergroup, rather than interpersonal, lens (termed the “appraisal gap”; Hornsey, Okimoto, & Wenzel, ).…”

The social psychology of collective victimhood

“…In fact, conflicting groups may dynamically pursue the same strategies (e.g., engaging in competition over their share of victimhood) to establish their collective victimhood (McNeill, Pehrson, & Stevenson, in press; Noor et al, ). Yet only few studies on collective victimhood explicitly acknowledge and examine the psychological consequences of the dynamics of these roles (see Bouchat et al, in press; Green et al, in press; Hornsey, Okimoto, & Wenzel, in press). One exception is a set of studies comparing the emotional needs and responses to harm in contexts where groups were only victims, only perpetrators, or held both roles (“duals”; SimanTov‐Nachlieli & Shnabel, ).…”

Conservatives Are More Reluctant to Give and Receive Apologies Than Liberals

“…It is perhaps not surprising, then, that proclivity to apologize—an individual difference variable—is positively associated with a range of well-being indices (Howell, Dopko, Turowski, & Buro, 2011). Neither is it surprising that victims have strong emotional needs to receive apologies (Hornsey, Okimoto, & Wenzel, in press; Leunissen, de Cremer, Folmer, & van Dijke, 2013).…”