Use Of Apologies Research Articles

Gender and Communicative Styles in Apologising Among Students of the University of Bamenda

Lack of understanding of some social indicators, cultural values (values of apology) and the importance of face may lead to communication breakdown, discrimination and conflict. In this regard, this paper set out to identify apology strategies of male and female students of The University of Bamenda, to determine the attitude of male and female users of English in The University of Bamenda towards the use of face in social interactions, and to verify the extent to which culture influences their apology strategies. To carry out this study, 50 participants (made up of 25 boys and 25 girls among level 400 geography students from the faculty of arts) between the ages 20 and 35 were purposefully selected as respondents to our questionnaire. The findings indicated that the two genders have different strategies in offering apology and that the female gender apologises more than the male, this is demonstrated in the use of the difference theory. Also, most of the respondents felt that people are polite in most conversations to pass across their ideas or make the conversation good, this shows that most of them do not give pride of place to the issue of face in social interactions. Also, the findings indicated that culture and cultural practices influence social interaction between both genders. This, ties with a study conducted by Bataineh and Bataineh (2005) which was aimed at investigating the potential gender effects in American students’ use of apologies within the framework of the two-culture theory. The researchers recommended that, the use of speech acts specifically in apology strategies in male and female communication styles should be given more attention by students, teachers, curriculum developers, policy makers and governments so as to enhance its teaching, knowledge and usage by young Cameroonian speakers of English.

Make No Apologies: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Depressive Symptoms, and the Mediating Role of Accounting for COVID-Safe Behavior Amongst People at High-Risk for Severe Illness

ABSTRACT With the goal of understanding unique and important threats to the mental health of people who are especially vulnerable to severe illness as a result of COVID-19, this study investigated associations between such individuals’ fear of negative evaluation, tendency to “account for” practicing COVID-safe behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Grounded in perspectives on self-presentation, normative influence, and cognitive dissonance, we hypothesized that fear of negative evaluation would relate positively to accounting for COVID-safe behaviors, which, in turn, would associate positively with increased depressive symptoms. The results showed that increased fear of negative evaluation predicted an increased use of apologies and excuses, which in turn were positively related to depressive symptoms. Justifications for COVID-safe behaviors were not significantly associated with either fear of evaluation or depressive symptoms. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Money or funny: Effective connectivity during service recovery with a DCM-PEB approach

While monetary compensation is considered the most effective service recovery strategy, relief theory claims that humor may also be useful in service recovery situations. This study investigated the effects of humor in service recovery using dynamic causal modeling and parametric empirical Bayes analysis to identify effective connectivity (EC) patterns in the dopaminergic reward system across four conditions representing different service recovery strategies: monetary compensation and humor (MH), monetary compensation and an apology (MA), non-monetary compensation using humor (H), and non-monetary compensation using an apology (CON, the control condition). The findings support the importance of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the monetary compensation (MH and MA) conditions and the amygdala in the non-monetary compensation (H and CON) conditions. Monetary compensation (MH and MA) resulted in right substantia nigra (rSN) to NAc EC, suggesting the processing of recovery satisfaction associated with perceived outcome fairness. Conversely, non-monetary compensation strategies (H and CON) resulted in left substantia nigra (lSN) to amygdala EC, suggesting the processing of satisfaction related to perceived interactional fairness. The use of humor for service recovery resulted in VTA-to-lSN-to-amygdala EC during humor appreciation, while the use of apologies (CON and MA) resulted in lSN-to-amygdala and lSN-to-VTA connectivity. Surprisingly, processing satisfaction in the MH condition did not activate the amygdala during humor appreciation. Coping humor could be norm-violating for service recovery, and its effectiveness depends on multiple factors. The results suggest that monetary compensation, humorous responses, and apologies play key roles in neurological responses to service recovery strategies.

УМОВИ УСПІШНОСТІ МОВЛЕННЄВОГО ЖАНРУ ВИБАЧЕННЯ

The article investigates the linguo-pragmatic conditions of the speech genre of apology in modern German. The purpose of the research is a comprehensive analysis of the examined speech genre. The main task is to identify and describe the conditions for the success of apology in German linguistic culture. To achieve a certain goal and solve the tasks, a number of methods have been applied: logical-semantic – to identify formal, semantic and functional parameters of apology; descriptive method – to characterize the typical linguistic means of apology; comparative analysis – to compare apologies with related speech acts; pragma-semantic method – to identify communicative strategies and tactics of apology; transactional method – for the analysis of verbal and nonverbal behavior of participants of communication; intent-analysis – to identify an indirect apology; method of quantitative calculations – for the implementation of quantitative characteristics of the use of apologies in German; questionnaire method – to confirm ethno-specific signs of forgiveness in German linguistic culture. Since in the proposed study the speech genre (hereinafter SG) is considered a set of SA with a common illocutionary goal to apologize to the interlocutor for the negative act committed by the speaker, the basis for success of the SG of apology constitutes the parameters of successful implementation of SA of apology. However, we consider it expedient to pay additional attention to external factors of SG realization, semantics and syntax of linguistic means of expression of the studied SG, as well as the pragmatics of creation and perception of SG by communicators. In view of apology in terms of its success, we believe that the most important thing for its implementation is the condition of sincerity, which is directly related to such components as malefactive action, guilt, pity (repentance), request, positive reaction of the addressee. Having committed a malefactive action, the speaker realizes his guilt, feels sorry for what he did, and asks the interlocutor for apology. A positive reaction of the addressee is also a necessary condition for the success of apology, i.e. the addressee must accept the speaker’s apology, otherwise the SG will fail and the communicative goal (restoration of harmony in the relationship) will not be achieved. The condition of sincerity of the SG of apology may include the following components: 1) the speaker actually believes that he has committed or intends to commit a malefactive action in relation to his interlocutor; 2) the addressee actually admits his guilt; 3) the speaker feels psychological discomfort and sincerely regrets the damage caused; 4) the addressee apologizes to the listener for his misconduct; 5) the addressee accepts the apology of the speaker and forgives his guilt. Based on the results of the analysis, the following conditions for the success of the speech genre of apology are formulated: 1) fulfillment of the condition of sincerity; 2) knowledge of the rules of polite behavior in the relevant cultural environment; 3) the presence of general knowledge about the situation; 4) compliance with the principles of speech cooperation; 5) analysis and planning of one’s behavior and the behavior of the interlocutor. It was found that the success or failure of apology can be assessed by analyzing the perlocutionary effect, and violation of the conditions of success can lead to communicative failure, which manifests itself in a negative reaction of the addressee and hinders cooperative interpersonal communication.

Linguistic Influences on the Outcomes of Imposed Advice

This study examines how language used by advice recipients and whether the peer apologized before offering advice affected advice outcomes. Participants wrote about a problem and then shared the problem through online chat with a peer (who was actually an experimental confederate). Although the participant was expecting the peer to share a problem as well and stated they did not want advice, the peer gave advice. Use of future tense verbs by the recipient in problem descriptions reduced implementation intention, perceived efficacy of advice, perceived approbation of advice, and perception of advice as confirming. This supports research that planning, operationalized through use of future tense verbs, reduces receptiveness to advice. Participants who used more I and we pronouns had lower intentions to implement advice. Contrary to hypotheses, use of apologies by the advisor for giving unwanted advice did not affect implementation intentions and increased reported negative emotions.

‘Ooh whoops I'm sorry! Teenagers' use of English apology expressions

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the on-going debate in the literature on mock im/politeness by exploring the ways in which teenagers use apologies. The data have been taken from the Bergen Corpus of London Teenage Language (COLT). The starting-point for the corpus analysis was to search for ‘apology expressions’ operationalised as one of the forms sorry, pardon, excuse me, forgive me, (I) apologize (and variations of these) in order to describe their frequencies and functions. In the next step, I investigated how the expressions were used in ‘insincere’ ways (for example sarcastically or for banter). Apologies used for banter were typically followed by a response in the next turn denying or rejecting the apology. They functioned as a solidarity strategy establishing a relationship of rapport between the teenagers. Ironic apologies were identified by a special ironic or sarcastic tone. In addition, it was possible to find some correlation between certain forms (in particular oh sorry) and the ironic interpretation of the apology. Ironic apologies could also be signalled by the use of expanded forms of apologies, intensification and more formal expressions associated with overpoliteness. Teenagers' conversational style was also characterized by the use of apologies for mimicry to perform stories or for comic parody.

Taking Apology Seriously: (Re) Thinking the Place of Apology in Formal and Informal Dispute Resolution Processes’ 2018

This paper explores the moral and theoretical foundation of apology as a social-legal response to conflict. The paper examines the formal and informal use of apologies in law and state practices, and identifies the various inadequacies (or potential inadequacies) that may arise from the instrumentalization of apology. It discusses the commodification of apology and argues that the mere use of apology without an examination of its genuineness and foundation may be counterproductive to the interest of justice for the victim. The last section of this paper highlights various corrective strategies that can be employed to enhance the validity of apology in the dispute resolution process.

Investigating age differences in e-mail pragmatic performance

The present study analyzes openings and closings, requests and apologies in e-mail writing by EFL learners and English native speakers. It first aims to explore possible differences in pragmatic performance between EFL learners and English native speakers in order to identify the aspects that may lead to pragmatic inappropriateness when performing in the L2. Secondly, this study seeks to explore age effects on pragmatic competence. The participants were 40 Catalan/Spanish EFL learners and 40 English native speakers divided into two age groups (younger vs. older speakers). The participants had to write an e-mail to a teacher asking for the possibility of re-sitting an exam that they had missed. The results showed differences between younger EFL learners and younger English native speakers in all the pragmatic moves analyzed. No differences, however, were found when comparing the older groups. Further differences were identified when comparing younger and older EFL learners in their e-mail openings and their use of apologies. However, no differences could be found in the English native speaker groups. Some pedagogical implications are also suggested.

Productions and Perceptions of Apologies: Intercultural Comparisons

The productions and perceptions of apologies vary from one language to another in terms of linguistic realization patterns, strategic preferences, and evaluative opinions. Accordingly, these variations motivate the investigation of apology use and its perceptions in different languages. By comparing productions and perceptions of apologies among college students who speak Arabic, Russian, English and Chinese languages, the current study reports on the students’ various strategic preferences (i.e., explicit or direct apology strategies, less explicit or indirect apology strategies and strategy combinations) and their diverging tendencies to evaluate the im/politeness of apologies. The results have confirmed that although the concept of apology is universal, its applications and interpretations can be divergent across various language groups and within each language group. These observed discrepancies can be attributed to sociocultural influences (e.g., face need concerns and culturally-specific perceptions of sincerity), gender-related differences (e.g., explicit and indirect apology strategies used more frequently by females than males) and situational characteristics (e.g., positive vs. negative face threatened situations, and in-group vs. out-group memberships). In addition, the author believes that this synthesis study will provide certain implications for ESL/EFL teaching and learning by enhancing the awareness of intercultural communicators to better make inferences from the effects of the three responsible factors on their use of apologies.

Summary compensation and apology orders in England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand: different structures, different responses?

ABSTRACTThis article examines how complaints about lawyer poor service are handled by regulators in England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand with the use of apologies and accompanying monetary compensation. This article describes how, in all jurisdictions, such poor service complaints are classified according to an appropriate regulatory response being compensatory (or dispute resolving) or disciplinary. While the terminology varies somewhat, these categorisations appear to be similar. In England and Wales (EW), there is a unique jurisdiction, the Legal Ombudsman, for dealing with complaints not classified as disciplinary, with a clear regulatory objective to provide compensation. By comparison, Australia and New Zealand regulators wear multiple hats as dispute resolvers, wielding summary remedial powers and as prosecutors of lawyer discipline through a tribunal. However, in each place apologies and capped amounts of monetary compensation are available as remedies. This article is a comparative examination of how and when they are used. On the basis of publicly available data from regulators, reports and case law, this article concludes that in the mixed jurisdiction in Australia and New Zealand regulators are cautious in the use of apologies and appear to conceptualise them within disciplinary or traditional civil legal conceptions. The Legal Ombudsman in EW has a very different approach which seems to allow for a more flexible use of such remedial orders.

Apologies in a Legal Setting: Insights from Research into Injured Parties’ Experiences of Apologies after an Adverse Event

There is scholarly support for the use of apologies in the settlement of legal disputes and anecdotal evidence of their effectiveness in mediation and other dispute resolution processes. There is also a growing body of empirical psychological research regarding the use and effectiveness of apologies available to inform and guide the practice of lawyers, mediators and other professionals, and judicial officers when apologies arise in legal proceedings. This article critically reviews the research literature concerning the experience of apology recipients and offers a framework for understanding the circumstances in which an apology may contribute to the resolution of a legal dispute.

“I'm Sorry” as Evidence? Why the Federal Rules of Evidence Should Include a New Specialized Relevance Rule to Protect Physicians

IN March 2013, Marek Lapinski, a healthy twenty-four-year-old software developer and entrepreneur, reported to Temecula, California office of Dr. Steven Paul, an oral surgeon, to have his wisdom teeth extracted. (1) Mr. Lapinski did not survive routine procedure. (2) According to a patient care report, he awoke, coughing, during operation, was sedated with propofol, and stopped breathing. (3) He died three days later at hospital. (4) April Lapinski, patient's mother, said of Dr. Paul, who was present at hospital, [H]e said he was sorry. (5) After an autopsy pointed to an anesthesia overdose as cause of death, (6) Lapinski family filed a medical malpractice suit against Dr. Paul in Los Angeles County on March 19, 2014. (7) A September 2015 trial date has been set. (8) As trial approaches, an interesting question could arise as to legal consequences of Dr. Paul's apology to Mrs. Lapinski. Could it be used as evidence of Dr. Paul's negligence, despite fact that it could just as likely have been nothing more than an expression of empathy intended to comfort grieving family? The use of apologies as evidence of liability is a recurring issue in medical malpractice litigation. The Federal Rules of Evidence currently contain no provision barring physicians' apologies (9) to patients from being admitted as evidence of fault. Whether state law offers any protection varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and even where some degree of protection is offered, whether those protections apply depends on content of apology in question. This article argues that such protection is necessary, and because underlying policy of protecting apologies is consistent with rationales supporting specialized relevance rules that are already included in Federal Rules of Evidence, an additional rule should be added to govern admissibility of physicians' apologies. Because many states' evidence rules are modeled after Federal Rules, such an addition would be a persuasive and effective means of demonstrating federal government's commitment to fostering doctor-patient relationship--and of encouraging states to do same. I. The Federal Rules of Evidence and Specialized Relevance Rules A. The Role of Federal Rules of Evidence The Federal Rules of Evidence, which took effect on June 1, 1975, (10) were product of a thirteen-year process initiated by then-Chief Justice Earl Warren to draft and enact uniform rules of evidence for use by federal courts. (11) Rather than attempting to codify federal statutory and judge-made law of evidence that existed at time, drafters of Rules instead looked for inspiration to states' efforts to codify their own evidentiary rules. (12) With enactment of Federal Rules of Evidence federal government again took lead; by 2003, forty-two states had statutory evidence codes or court rules modeled after Federal Rules. (13) States are not obligated to follow Federal Rules. (14) Rather, they may deviate as much or as little as they see fit. California, for example, uses its own evidence code, which pre-dates Rules. (15) Pennsylvania's Rules of Evidence also deviate in some respects from Federal Rules in pursuit of the guiding principle of preservfing] Pennsylvania law of evidence. (16) Perhaps most noteworthy of these departures is Pennsylvania's rejection of federal Daubert (17) standard for admissibility of expert evidence in favor of pre-Rules Frye (18) general acceptance standard. (19) Still, most recent revision of Pennsylvania rule governing admissibility of expert testimony bears a strong resemblance to language and organizational structure of corresponding Federal Rule. (20) This example illustrates that, while states can and do depart from Federal Rules at times, Federal Rules nonetheless play an influential role in serving as a model for law of evidence in great majority of states, even when those states decline to adopt federal Rules to letter. …

Gender Differences in the Use of Apology Speech Act in Persian

The present study investigates gender differences in the use of apologies and examines the effect of social status and social distance of on the frequency of performing and receiving apologies among males and females, in a corpus of 500 apology exchanges collected through an ethnographic method of observation in Iran and coded according to Olshtain and Cohen's (1983) model. The results revealed that there were no significant gender differences in the use of apologies in Persian, and that only gender of apologizer affected the use of explanation and promise of forbearance significantly in the corpus. It was also found that males apologized to male strangers with the highest frequency while females exchanged most apologies with their female friends, and that both men and women apologized more to equals. Significant age differences were also observed in the corpus.

Negotiation and Apologies: The Role of an Apology, the Role of the Law and the Role of the Lawyer

Every profession has its own bible, which is the starting point for every person. For negotiators, this bible is Fisher’s and Ury’s ‘Getting to yes.’ As this book is a guideline for how to negotiate, it includes all the important aspects negotiators should be aware of. One of those aspects is that a large number of negotiators are often only interested in money. As a result, they do not recognize that they are negotiating with human beings having basic human needs other than money. By not paying attention to the human side of the opposite party, negotiators lose a very powerful weapon, since the basic human needs are often the most powerful interests at stake in many negotiations.The focus of this paper is one of these basic human needs; the need for apologies. The value of an apology can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Its role in negotiations has received an increased interest from scholars and practitioners in the last twenty years, which demonstrates how important an apology can be in negotiation. Although apologies have a large number of aspects to consider in public and private settings, this paper will only examine the potential effects of apologies in private negotiations and their outcomes in a legal setting. As this paper will argue that apologising can be beneficial, it will then focus on how the law influences the use of apologies. Finally, this paper will examine what lawyers should be aware of when advising their clients in function of giving or receiving an apology.

The impact of impression management over time

Purpose– The purpose of these studies was to investigate how the repeated use of impression management (IM) tactics is related to supervisor perceptions in newly formed supervisor-subordinate dyads.Design/methodology/approach– Two studies were conducted – a lab study in which participants evaluated a confederate who performed an accounting task while using different types of IM across five trials, and a field study examining the IM tactics of new employees and their supervisors' ratings of likability and performance at two points in time.Findings– In the lab study, the repeated use of ingratiation had an increasingly positive effect on performance ratings, whereas repeated apologies had an increasingly negative effect on evaluations of performance. The influence of IM tactics on ratings of subordinate likability did not change with repeated use. In the field study, subordinates' use of apologies and justifications was more strongly associated with supervisor evaluations of likability and performance in earlier stages of their relationship.Practical implications– Employees need to be mindful that IM tactics may vary in their effectiveness depending on the timing and frequency of their use. Furthermore, supervisors should consider the initial influence that IM has on their ability to objectively evaluate new subordinates.Originality/value– This research is unique in that it examined how the repeated use of both assertive (i.e. ingratiation and self-promotion) and defensive (i.e. apologies and justifications) IM tactics are related to both evaluations of likability and performance ratings at multiple points in time.

Keep Calm and Say Sorry!: The use of Apologies by EFL Teachers in Turkish and English

The aim of the study is to investigate apology strategies used by EFL teachers in Turkish and English. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research was carried out. The study utilized purposeful sampling. Three EFL instructors participated in this study. The data were collected via a Discourse Completion Task (DCT) that had eight apology situations. Analyzing the results indicated that there was no significance difference in apology strategies used by the participants, and their L1 apology speech act strategies were not significantly different from their L2 productions. Their L1 can be said to have an effect on their use of apologies, as they transferred native Turkish norms into English. The results of the study emphasized the importance of teaching pragmatic competence in EFL. This study might be of pedagogical help and significance to teachers interested in pragmatics in general, and apology speech act in particular.

I'm Sorry About the Rain! The Positive Effects of Superfluous Apologies

Existing apology research has conceptualized apologies as a device to rebuild relationships following a transgression. As a result, apology research has failed to investigate the use of apologies f...

Non-apologies and prolonged silences in post-conflict settings: The case of post-colonial Cyprus

Despite the growing use of apologies in post-conflict settings, cases of non-apology remain unaddressed and continue to puzzle scholars. This article focuses on the absence of apology by non-state and anti-state actors by examining the case of the Cypriot armed group EOKA, which has refused to offer an apology to the civilian victims of its ‘anti-colonial’ struggle (1955–1959). Using field data and parliamentary debates, and drawing on comparisons, this article analyses the factors that contributed to a lack of apology. It is argued that the inherited timelessness of Greek nationalism, and the impression of a perpetual need for defence, set up textbook conditions for the development of a hegemonic discourse and prevented an apology for human rights violations.

The use of apologies by EFL learners

The aim of this study is to investigate the act of apologizing with subjects from two different levels of English proficiency to find out whether there are similarities and differences between these groups and whether they approach native speaker apology norms. 20 subjects in intermediate level, 20 subjects in advanced level and 10 native speakers of English participate in the study. The data are gathered by a Discourse Completion Test that had 8 apology situations. In the analysis of the data, all responses are categorized according to Cohen and Olshtain’s (1981) apology speech act set. The results of the study reveal some similarities and differences between the two groups. Their L1 can be said to have an influence on their use of apologies, especially intermediate level subjects transfer native Turkish speaker norms into English.

Computer-Mediated Communication that Brings Learning into the Present

A two-part assignment was designed which paired students together using e-mail technology that required them to engage in peer teaching. This allowed us to study computer-mediated communication that was not part of a discussion group or chat room. An analysis of the e-mails revealed that males and females did not differ in frequency, length or use of social incentives. Males sent slightly more status enhancement messages while females sent more status recognition messages. Significant gender differences occurred, however, in the use of apologies and in how personal weaknesses or bad experiences were characterized. Unexpectedly, university affiliation was more significant than gender in the amount of self-disclosure.