Assessing the Role of Honour Culture and Image Concerns in Impeding Apologies
ABSTRACT Despite the known benefits of apologies, people often fail to apologize for wrongdoings. We examined the role of a cultural logic of honour—where apologizing may clash with concerns about maintaining an image of strength and toughness—in reluctance to apologize. Using general population samples from 14 societies in Mediterranean, East Asian and Anglo‐Western regions ( N = 5471), we explored links between honour values and norms, image concerns, and apology outcomes using multilevel mediation analyses. Members of groups with stronger honour endorsement reported stronger image concerns about apologizing relative to their concerns about not apologizing, which, in turn, predicted greater reluctance to apologize and fewer past apologies. However, groups with stronger honour endorsement did not show greater reluctance to apologize overall, and some individual‐level facets of honour predicted better apology outcomes. Our results highlight the importance of considering honour as a multifaceted construct and including contextual factors and processes when studying reconciliation processes and obstacles to apologies.
Authors
- Manuel Teresi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1103-7621)
- Alexander Kirchner‐Häusler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2406-7635)
- Stefano Pagliaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0573-0937)
- Meral Gezici Yalçın (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8751-3428)
- Evangelia Kateri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9366-9648)
- Shenel Husnu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5679-5568)
- Susan E. Cross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9368-4397)
- Yukiko Uchida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8336-2423)
- Jinkyung Na (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7100-9606)
- Rosa Rodríguez‐Bailón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3489-0107)
- Vivian L. Vignoles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7628-6776)
- Charis Psaltis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8724-665X)
- Juan Matamoros‐Lima (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6669-8745)
- Michael J. A. Wohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6945-5562)
- Konstantinos Kafetsios (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5933-4409)
- Rania Miniesy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9176-5989)
- Charles Harb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3958-0092)
- Dina Rabie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4401-4028)
- Nima Orazani
- Ayse K. Uskul
Institutions
- University of Crete (GR)
- Sogang University (KR)
- British University in Egypt (EG)
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- Iowa State University (US)
- Bielefeld University (DE)
- Hochschule Bielefeld (DE)
- University of Kent (GB)
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (QA)
- University of Cyprus (CY)
- Eastern Mediterranean University (CY)
- University of Chieti-Pescara (IT)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Palacký University Olomouc (CZ)
- American University of Beirut (LB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- European Journal of Social Psychology
- Published
- 2025-06-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70002
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.44