Influence of apologies and trait hostility on recovery from anger.
While there is growing evidence that quick recovery from stress is health-protective, relatively little is known about what factors affect recovery rates. We tested whether recovery from anger can be diffused with apologies. 184 participants performed a stress task involving verbal harassment and apologies. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: non-harassed control, good apology, pseudo-apology, or no apology. Measures of blood pressure and heart rate were taken at baseline, task and recovery periods. Participants scoring high in trait hostility displayed faster systolic blood pressure recovery when they received a genuine apology, but recovered more slowly when they received a pseudo-apology or no apology. Apologies did not influence subjective anger ratings. It was concluded that apologies may accelerate cardiovascular anger recovery among those with hostile personality predispositions.
Anderson
Jeremy C
JC
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. jeremy@psych.ubc.ca
Linden
Wolfgang
W
Habra
Martine E
ME
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001143:Arousal; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013694:Temperament