Can Ingroup Opposition to Political Apologies Be Mitigated? Negative Evidence for Dissociation from the Past and Praise for the Present System

Abstract

Japan issued many political apologies after World War II, although these failed to foster intergroup forgiveness. One possible reason for these failures may be the presence of within-country opposition to government apologies. It has been suggested that some elements of political apologies may be intended to mitigate such within-country opposition. Two studies (total sample size=1,500) tested whether a statement that dissociates past injustice from the country’s present political system and a statement that praises the country’s present system would mitigate opposition to a political apology. The results did not support the mitigating hypothesis. Moreover, we tested whether these statements would be particularly effective in reducing the opposition of strong opponents (e.g., individuals high in Social Dominance Orientation). Although this effect was significant in Study 1, a preregistered study (Study 2) failed to replicate it.