Thank you, this is super helpful!

These findings suggest that cultivating gratitude and humility alongside self-forgiveness may help mitigate the potential negative effects of DF on apology behavior.

At the same time, this is not the whole story. Our research also shows that perceptions of DF can foster gratitude and humility, which in turn encourage sincere, high-quality apologies.

As such, transgressors may bypass the person they hurt, achieving self-forgiveness without making amends. Our findings show that when DF leads to greater self-forgiveness, it can disrupt constructive responses—such as offering high-quality apologies—that are essential for repairing relationships.

Our research highlights an important consideration in situations where someone offends another person: while perceptions of DF for these transgressions can promote self-forgiveness, it may also reduce the likelihood of apologizing—and apologizing well—to the person harmed.