It’s advice we give every kid (“Now, apologize for what you did. Say you’re sorry.”). But as adults, we avoid it, especially on a large scale, because of fear that an apology will lead to a law suit.
That fear may be ungrounded, based on two new studies.
In the two studies, participants, ages 21 to 70, read a scenario describing a pedestrian-bicycle accident. They were asked to take on the role of the injured person and evaluate a settlement offer from the other party, based on information about the injuries, the other party’s conduct, and each party’s responsibility for causing the accident.
Robbennolt found that when a full apology was given, 73 percent of the respondents would accept the settlement offer. When no apology was given, 52 percent would accept, but when a partial apology was given, only 35 percent would accept.
Even when Robbennolt changed the scenario and made the evidence of fault less clear, a partial apology was still often perceived no differently than no apology. Results also showed that the severity of the injury mattered. The more severe the injury, the more need to fully apologize.
“An offender who offered a full apology was seen as experiencing more regret, as being more moral and more likely to be careful in the future than one offering a partial or no apology,” Robbennolt said.
Interesting, and sensible. Note, of course, that lawyers didn’t get involved …
(via PRBop)
Yeah, then you still get sued.
Sorry counts for nothin’.
Apologies are mere air.
I disagree. Certainly in the service world, a sincere (or sincere-seeming) apology can mean the difference between a customer that’s going to badmouth you to all his friends, and one who will praise you. I’ve seen it, and I’ve done it.
And the study seems to argue just the contrary to what you say. People were willing (in the study circumstances, of course) to settle more easily when the settlement offer was accompanied by an apology.