Between applause and arm crossing: Public reception of within-group apologies and the role of system justification

Abstract

Within-group apologies restore important values and afford victims their dignity; however, the system justification motive may cause group authorities to hesitate in apologizing or to include system-justifying expressions to soothe the general public. Two studies were conducted, both on-campus (Study 1) and off-campus (Study 2), to empirically illustrate the public reception of within-group apologies (victim-focused and system-challenging) and silence. The results indicate that higher levels of system justification are associated with more favorable attitudes toward responses from authority. For the general public (Study 2), high-level justifiers supported the government's silence as much as the victim-focused apology, maintaining trust despite perceiving unfairness. Conversely, low-level justifiers, though negative overall, supported victim-focused apology more than system-challenging apology or silence. Additionally, the general public in Study 2 favored the victim-focused apology over the system-challenging one, rendering system-justifying expressions unnecessary. We propose that authorities prioritize apologies emphasizing dignity and respect for victims, instead of fearing potential negative reception influenced by the system justification motive.