@article{ref1,
title="Turning tables: offenders feel like "victims" when victims withhold forgiveness",
journal="Personality and social psychology bulletin",
year="2021",
author="Thai, Michael and Wenzel, Michael and Okimoto, Tyler G.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="When offenders apologize to victims for a wrongdoing, they often expect forgiveness in return. Sometimes, however, victims may withhold forgiveness. Across four experimental studies, we find that offenders feel like &quot;victims&quot; when victims respond to their apologies with non-forgiveness. This can be explained by the fact that they interpret non-forgiveness as both a norm violation and a threat to their sense of power. Together, these mechanisms can account for the relationship between non-forgiveness and negative conciliatory sentiments in offenders. These effects of non-forgiveness emerge irrespective of whether the transgression is recalled (Study 1) or imagined (Studies 2-4). They are specific to non-forgiveness rather than a lack of explicit forgiveness (Study 3), and are not qualified by subtle prods for participants to take the victim's perspective (Study 4). These findings demonstrate a destructive response pattern in offenders that warrants further attention.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0146-1672",
doi="10.1177/01461672211062401",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/01461672211062401"
}