How Apologies for Repeated Offenses Impact Response Sincerity, Trust, and Forgiveness (Study 3)

Across two studies, we showed that repeated (vs. isolated) apologies are perceived less sincerely and promote less trust and forgiveness. We also found that their ability to be perceived sincerely and promote trust and forgiveness decreased across time. Diminished levels of forgiveness as elicited by repeated apologies were explained by a perceived lack of response sincerity and trust. In the present study, we test whether our effects replicate for recalled offenses/responses in romantic relationships, and whether repeated apologies that address a pattern of offenses (vs. an isolated offense) buffer against the diminishing effectiveness that we found for repeated isolated apologies in Studies 1 and 2.