I’m not surprised by the specific psychological benefits enumerated. Speaking as someone who has struggled for much of my life to learn to apologize—a challenge for a variety of reasons, but definitely exacerbated by rejection sensitivity—that’s exactly what refusing to apologize felt like, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. However, this came with some pronounced social damage. Not to mention hurting people I care about, again even if I didn’t realize it at the time.
Learning to apologize, when I’m in the wrong or even just when I’ve mistakenly caused harm, hasn’t been easy. I still have work to do. But it’s had psychological benefits too. It’s helped me form more stable and trusting bonds, which has had the unintuitive-to-younger-me benefit of assuaging my rejection sensitivity, and even making me feel more secure in my self esteem. It’s helped me feel I can also better trust others, and that I can expect the same regard when I’ve felt wronged.
I’m not disputing anything in this study, but I think this perspective is also worth sharing.
Learning to apologize, when I’m in the wrong or even just when I’ve mistakenly caused harm, hasn’t been easy. I still have work to do. But it’s had psychological benefits too. It’s helped me form more stable and trusting bonds, which has had the unintuitive-to-younger-me benefit of assuaging my rejection sensitivity, and even making me feel more secure in my self esteem. It’s helped me feel I can also better trust others, and that I can expect the same regard when I’ve felt wronged.
I’m not disputing anything in this study, but I think this perspective is also worth sharing.