Too tired to take offense: When depletion promotes forgiveness

a r t i c l e i n f o Although self-regulatory depletion has a broad range of adverse consequences, recent research has established that it can yield prosocial outcomes under certain circumstances. The present experiment examined the interaction between depletion and offense severity on forgiveness of romantic offenses. Consistent with prior research, results revealed that depleted (vs. non-depleted) individuals were less forgiving of severe offenses. In a counter-intuitive reversal, however, depleted (vs. non-depleted) individuals were more forgiving of mild offenses. This crossover interaction effect was mediated by perception of offense severity, suggesting that depleted individuals may be especially forgiving of mild offenses because they are simply too tired to take offense at their partner's bad behavior. These findings identify one important instance in which depletion can promote salutary relationship processes. Introduction Imagine returning home after an exhausting day to a partner who treats you in either a severely or mildly negative manner. How would you evaluate the severity of your partner's bad behavior, and how likely would you be to forgive it? In the present research, we test the hypotheses that (a) depleted (vs. non-depleted) individuals will be less forgiving of severe offenses, but more forgiving of mild offenses; and (b) this Depletion × Offense Type interaction will be mediated by individuals' perceptions of offense severity. The negative consequences of self-regulation failure, the process by which individuals fail to act in accord with their goals (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007), are legion. Poor self-regulatory ability, whether measured at a dispositional level or manipulated through depletion procedures, impairs a broad range of interpersonal processes and outcomes (for a review see Luchies, Finkel, & Fitzsimons, 2011). For example, people with low (vs. high) dispositional self-regulatory strength are more likely to be unfaithful to their romantic partner Similarly, individuals involved in relationships whose self-regulatory resources have been experimentally depleted tend to show as much interest in attractive alternatives as single individuals do (Ritter, Karremans, & van Schie, 2010) and are especially aggressive in response to partner provocation (Finkel et al., 2009). Of particular relevance to the present research, poor self-regulation makes individuals less forgiving when confronting offenses enacted by and research has demonstrated that depleted self-regulatory strength undermines the ability to forgive (or " accommodate ") in response to hurtful or inconsiderate partner behaviors (Finkel & Campbell, 2001). Individuals with low dispositional self-regulatory strength also experience more ruminative thoughts about severe …