"You Say It Best When You Say Nothing at All": Effects of Reparation, Apology, and Expressions of Emotions on Intergroup Forgiveness

Three experiments examined the effects of a perpetrator group member expressing various emotions or no emotion on victim group member's propensity to forgive the perpetrator group and hold positive outgroup beliefs. All studies were conducted in Bosnia Herzegovina. In Study 1 (N = 112), a member of the Serbian outgroup expressed no emotion, image shame, moral shame, or guilt while talking about her group's involvement in a recent atrocity (Srebrenica). The first condition elicited more forgiveness and more favorable outgroup cognitions in comparison with the other three conditions. This effect was replicated in Studies 2 (N = 90) and 3 (N = 98), which also incorporated manipulations of apologies and reparations respectively. Apologies had no effect on intergroup forgiveness or positive outgroup cognitions; reparations had more positive effects irrespective of emotions expressed.