Influencing Expectations of a Return Apology

Romantic relationships are an important part of many people's lives, but they are not immune to conflicts. The present study aimed to determine if individuals could be influenced to be the first to apologize in real, romantic relationship, mutual blame conversations by making them optimistic about getting a return apology. Participants engaged in a three-part study revolving around an unresolved mutual blame conflict they described having with their romantic partner. In survey 1 participants completed relationship and conflict measures and interacted with an optimism intervention specific to one of three experimental conditions (return apology, forgiveness, control). The intervention used was a hypothetical scenario vignette about a mutual blame conflict between a romantic couple, paired with having participants imagine their conflict in a similar context to that presented in the vignette. Those in the control condition read a vignette about the conflict without any additional text about a resolution. In the return apology condition text was added to increase optimism about receiving a return apology. In the forgiveness condition, text was added to increase optimism about receiving forgiveness without an apology. Following survey one and the intervention, participants engaged in a private conversation with their partner about their unresolved conflict. After the conversation participants completed survey 2, recording the presence of any apologies during the conversation, as well as completing exploratory conflict and conversation measures. The current paper concludes with the analysis of results and a discussion of their implications.