This paper was set out to investigate the main cultural differences between Saudi and British participants making apologies with a focus on the role of the gender of the addressee in the selection of apology strategies in gender-segregated vs. coed societies. Written questionnaires were used to collect data from 80 participants: 20 Saudi males, 20 Saudi females, 20 British males and 20 British ...

When a healthcare professional commits an error that results in an adverse patient outcome, it is increasingly considered appropriate that an apology should be made to the harmed person. 2 Such an apology benefits both the health professional and the patient, and serves to address the considerable emotional burden that accompanies this wrenching aspect of practice (see page 249). The process of...

We use techniques from evolutionary game theory to analyze the conditions under which guilt can provide individual fitness benefits, and so evolve. In particular, we focus on the benefits of guilty apology. We consider models where actors err in an iterated prisoner’s dilemma and have the option to apologize. Guilt either improves the trustworthiness of apology or imposes a cost on actors who a...

This article looks at the role apology plays in resolving conflicts between patients and doctors. Patients may have a manifest need for sincere expressions of sympathy, which may ultimately help unblock the conflict situation, and even lead to better reparations for the harm done. Moreover, some factors in the current context mean that patients have a very hard time getting apologies. The autho...

We present a preliminary study on how followers and non-followers of a popular CEO respond differently to a public apology by the CEO in Twitter. Sentiment analysis tool was used to measure the effect of the apology. We find that CEO’s apology had clear benefits in this case. As expected, it was more effective to followers than non-followers. However, followers showed a higher degree of change ...

Online offences are generally considered as frequent and intentional acts performed by a member with the aim to deceive others. However, an offence may also be unintentional or exceptional, performed by a benevolent member of the community. This article examines whether a victim’s decrease in trust towards an unintentional or occasional offender can be repaired in an online setting, by designin...

When making a mistake, individuals can apologize to secure further cooperation, even if the apology is costly. Similarly, individuals arrange commitments to guarantee that an action such as a cooperative one is in the others’ best interest, and thus will be carried out to avoid eventual penalties for commitment failure. Hence, both apology and commitment should go side by side in behavioral evo...

When making a mistake, individuals can apologize to secure further cooperation, even if the apology is costly. Similarly, individuals arrange commitments to guarantee that an action such as a cooperative one is in the others’ best interest, and thus will be carried out to avoid eventual penalties for commitment failure. Hence, both apology and commitment should go side by side in behavioral evo...

When things go wrong during a medical procedure, patients' expectations are fairly straightforward: They expect an explanation of what happened, an apology if an error was made, and assurance that something will be done to prevent it from happening to another patient. Patients have a right to full disclosure; it is also therapeutic in relieving their anxiety. But if they have been harmed by our...