The effects of apology and the changes of affection under four types of social predicaments were examined by canonical correlation analysis. Subjects were asked to imagine themselves as the harm-doer and the victim in one of four scenarios that were designed with combinations of high and low levels of the harm-doer's responsibility and the victim's damage. The findings were as follows: (1) a small number of apology components were used when the victim's damage was severe; (2) social predicaments were generally unpleasant, because the harm-doer and/or the victim felt aggressive affections (disgust, anger and hatred) in every situation; (3) apologies had positive and negative effects on the affection of the harm-doer and victim according to the difference of social predicaments.
