道歉也是门学问 你会道歉吗？

We've all watched the scene dozens of times – the shamed celebrity standing before a podium offering up their apologies.

这样的场景我们已经看了无数遍了，在某个平台上，羞愧的某个名人向公众道歉。

But does simply owning up and saying sorry actually do any good?

但是单纯的道歉真的就有用么？

According to a recent paper by researchers at USC, Washington University in St. Louis, Singapore Management University and the University of Miami, it depends on if the apology is good enough.

根据最近南加州大学，圣路易斯华盛顿大学，新加坡管理学院和迈阿密大学的研究，道歉究竟有没有用要依据道歉到底够不够好。

In particular, people look for what they see as a 'sincere' apology, a real attempt to repair trust.

特别是，人们希望看到的是都是真诚的道歉，一个愿意修复信任的道歉。

Participants in the U.S. and Singapore took part in four experiments, two of which had participants make a series of decisions in a game with a virtual partner.

在美国和新加坡的参与者都参加了四个实验，其中两个是和虚拟的伙伴参与一个决策类的游戏。

The decisions were all based on trust - but the 'partner' was designed to violate the trust by keeping all the money earned cooperatively in previous rounds.

所有的决定都是在信任的基础上做出来的，但是你的伙伴会通过在前几轮将你们合作赚到的钱据为己有来打破你们之间的信任。

The two other studies asked people's opinion of a fictional CEO who asked his employees to take a pay cut and failed to follow suit, breaking a promise to refuse dividends from his stock.

另外两个研究是关于人们对一位虚构的CEO的看法。这位CEO给他的雇员减薪然后不遵循平时的做法，甚至也没有遵守关于股票和红利的诺言。

The researchers then assessed how different methods of apologising worked - from a simple sorry, to a sincere-sounding apology, to promises to reform in the future. The researchers classified these 'trust repair' mechanisms by how well they worked.

紧接着研究者研究了不同方式的道歉的作用是怎么样的，从最简单的对不起，言语真诚的道歉到保证以后一定改正的决心。研究者们通过他们的作用将道歉分类。

The research, detailed in the article 'Understanding the Effects of Substantive Responses on Trust Following a Transgression,' showed that nothing beat showing a genuine apology in terms of winning back trust.

发表在文章《关于信任后的道歉应答效果》中这个研究，说明了在赢得信任方面，没有什么比真诚认真的道歉更重要了。

The study said that apologies - whether in the form of a resignation, an offer to change policy, or a simple verbal apology - work by activating an impression of repentance in the wronged individual's mind.

研究说，不管是辞职之后的道歉，政策更改之后的道歉，还是一个简单的口头道歉，他们都会给人留下深刻的希望悔改的印象。

Successful apologies hammer home the idea that the perpetrator is unlikely to violate trust again.

成功的道歉是要再三重复犯错的人不会再这么干了。

'We want to know that the person has changed somehow, that their character has changed. The trust repair responses - such as offering to reform - also work on their ability to signal perceived repentance,' said Kim.

“我们想知道到底认识怎么样变了，比如说是不是性格变了。修复信任的措施，例如有所改变，就是他们悔改的标志。”金姆这样说。

Kim pointed to the recent sex-texting - or 'sexting' - scandal involving former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner as a relevant example of the study's core findings.

金姆将最近纽约国会议员安东尼·温纳的性丑闻事件作为研究的核心例子之一。

'The fact that he resigned from Congress, it's clear that he did so involuntarily so that resignation isn't going to restore trust in him at all,' said Kim. 'If it had been seen as him doing so voluntarily and that he was punishing himself because he really was repentant that would have been far more effective.'

“他离开国会很显然，就算是他无心这么做，国会也再也不相信他了”，金姆说。“如果”他是主动这么做的，那么他也许会惩罚自己，这样悔改的话，就会更有效果。

'Leaving Congress because it was imposed on him - that punishment is not able to signal that sense of repentance.'

“离开国会因为这是他被迫的，这种惩罚并不能看作是悔改的标志。”