Elasticity of emotions to multiple interpersonal transgressions

After an interpersonal mishap-like blowing off plans with a friend, forgetting a spouse's birthday, or falling behind on a group project-wrongdoers typically feel guilty for their misbehavior, and victims feel angry. These emotions are believed to possess reparative functions; their expression prevents future mistakes from reiterating. However, little research has examined people's emotional reactions to mistakes that happen more than once. In seven preregistered studies, we assessed wrongdoers' and victims' emotions that arise after one transgression and again after another. Following two (or more) consecutive transgressions, wrongdoers felt guiltier, and victims felt angrier. However, from one transgression to the next, increases to anger were significantly greater than increases to guilt. Likewise, after transgression repair, anger decreased more than guilt did. In short, we found that anger is more elastic than guilt, which suggests a new perspective on emotions: The sensitivity to which emotions update in response to new circumstances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).