2000/12/01 by Gregg J. Gold, Bernard Weiner
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Deception detection and forensic psychology #Forgiveness and Related Behaviors #Workplace Violence and Bullying
paper · doi:10.1207/s15324834basp2204_3
openalex publication_date 2000/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Within impression management and attribution research, confession presents a paradox. Rather than trying to reduce blame, confessors accept responsibility for the transgression. Yet confession is an effective strategy for positive impression formation. In this article, the explanation for these benefits focuses on other's utilitarian concerns regarding future expectations of negative behavior by the transgressor. In 3 studies, level of remorse, harm, personal relevance, and group status are examined in situations of transgression. Remorse had the largest overall multivariate effect on the measures of forgiveness. Most affected by level of remorse was the perceived stability of the cause of transgressor's actions, which was a major antecedent of expectancies regarding future negative acts. It appears that an effective confession must include remorse to positively affect these future expectancies.