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UK Wedding News

15/07/2014

Apologising Can 'Make Or Break' Relationships

Apologising to a partner can make or break a relationship, according to a new study.

The findings, conducted by psychologists from three US universities - Miami, Minnesota and UCLA in California - and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), revealed that by saying 'sorry', it can actually make a situation better. It added that purchasing flowers can also help when apologising in a relationship.

The report claims that by apologising, it actually helps a 'victim' to alter their thoughts of revenge to those of forgiveness. For the 'criminal', it therefore makes them appear less likely to carry out the same incident again.

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The team behind the research looked at 337 adults who had been involved in a potentially damaging argument in their relationship. They also looked at the effects on the couple's relationship when the one responsible for starting the row tried to make amends - this included simply saying sorry, or buying their partner a gift like a bunch of flowers.

As a result, the researchers claimed: "Conciliatory gestures, such as apologies were associated with increases in victims' perceptions of their transgressors' relationship value and reductions in perceptions of their transgressors' exploitation risk.

"These results strongly suggest that conciliatory gestures facilitate forgiveness and reduce anger by modifying victims' perceptions of their transgressors' value as relationship partners and likelihood of recidivism."

In other words, the 'victim' in the situation feels that the transgressor still values their relationship, and therefore is less likely to repeat their 'crime' in the future.

(JP/IT)

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"Apologising to a partner can make or break a relationship, according to a new study."