The role of intergroup apologies and intergroup contact in promoting reconciliation in severe intergroup conflicts

One of the big challenges of social psychologists is how to contribute to solving existing intergroup conflicts. The present experiment (N = 178) was conducted in the context of a severe intergroup conflict between Romanians (the privileged group) and Romas (the underprivileged group) and investigated the effects of intergroup apologies, intergroup contact and their interaction on intergroup forgiveness and trust. Perceived sincerity of the apology and perceived typicality of apologizing representatives were studied as moderators of apology’s effects. Results show that intergroup contact was positively associated with forgiveness and trust in the perpetrator group, while intergroup apologies had a direct effect only on trust. Apology’s effect on trust was moderated by both perceived sincerity of the apology and perceived typicality of the apologizing representative, while its effect on forgiveness was moderated only by perceived sincerity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.