The Effects of Explanations on Negative Reactions to Deceit

Debra L. Shapiro University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill This study examined a model of the relative mitigating effects of three types of explanations on the negative reactions of subjects who had been told that they had been deceived. Explanations were found to mitigate differentially feelings of disapproval, injustice, punitiveness, and unforgiveness, depending on the type of explanation, the severity of the outcome the subjects experienced, how adequate they judged the explanation to be, and how honest they felt the explainer was. The perceived adequacy of the explanation was more important in mitigating negative reactions than the type of explanation, although punitiveness was affected, more than the other negative reactions, by the type of explanation and was moderated more by the outcomes of greater severity. The study shows that whether explanations have a mitigating effect on negative reactions depends on more than the characteristics of the explanations and the explainer, which have been the focus of previous research.'