Examining the dynamic impact of emotional apologies on forgiveness

Expressing emotions within apologies can be important in facilitating forgiveness. We reviewed current evidence to uncover what types of emotional apologies have been studied, in terms of specific emotions expressed in apologies and in what contexts they have been examined. From this wider literature, we then conducted a meta-analysis (k = 22 studies) on the effect of emotional apologies compared to no-emotion expression or neutral states on levels of forgiveness. We found that expressing emotions can generally facilitate higher levels of forgiveness. However, it was evident that there has been a narrow range of emotions manipulated in past apology contexts and very little research comparing the impact of emotional apologies from differing perspectives (i.e., victims, perpetrators, and bystanders). The findings highlighted the need to expand and improve on how emotional apologies are studied and eventually delivered in reaction to societal events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).