导读：“道歉有用还要警察干嘛？”，那道歉真的有用吗？日本的一项研究证实，道歉确实是有用的，但是还不够有用……
被他人的言语激怒正要发作时收到对方的道歉，马上会感觉气消了大半。日本一研究小组通过脑电波分析证实了这种体验：接受道歉后虽然心中仍存在不满情绪，但是像愤怒这样的攻击性会平息下去。
日本科学技术振兴机构和名古屋大学的研究人员日前在美国在线杂志《科学公共图书馆综合卷》上发表论文说，他们以48名大学生为对象进行了实验，让大学生们就一些社会问题写下意见。之后，又让人对大学生们的意见给出评注，评注使用了蔑视的言辞。把这样的评注反馈给参加实验的大学生们，但其中半数的评注后面还附上了，“非常抱歉给予这样的评注”的表示道歉的文字。
研究人员在大学生们接到反馈后分析了他们的脑电波，并对他们进行了一些指标的测试。研究人员发现没有收到道歉的学生心跳数和手掌出汗有所增加，这些是人愤怒时典型的变化。脑电波分析显示，左前额部位监测到的α波数值比右前额部位有所下降，这表明被监测者出现愤怒反应。另外，心理测试也显示他们的攻击性和不快感都有所上升。
相比而言，收到道歉的学生手掌出汗有所增加，但心跳数没有发生变化，左右脑的活动也未见差异。心理测试显示，他们的不快感虽然有所上升，但攻击性未出现变化。
研究人员表示，这项研究从生理角度证明了道歉的有效性，道歉虽然不能完全消除对方的糟糕情绪，但确实是走向和解的第一步。
Apology Isn't Good Enough: An Apology Suppresses an Approach Motivation but Not the Physiological and Psychological Anger
Kenta Kubo, Kazuo Okanoya, Nobuyuki Kawai
Although studies have emphasized the multiple components of anger, little is known about the physiological and psychological mechanisms of the approach motivational component and the negative emotional component of anger. In the present study, participants wrote brief opinions about social problems (e.g., tuition hikes) and received a handwritten, insulting comment about their composition from the experimenter. Half of the participants (apology group) received a simple apologetic sentence at the end of the insulting comment. Half of the participants (no apology group) did not receive one. The physiological responses of the participants were recorded prior to, and after they read the comments. Increases in heart rate and asymmetric frontal brain activity were suppressed only in the apology group. Both groups showed an increase in skin conductance response. Our psychological scales showed that the apology suppressed self reported state anger from an approach-motivational standpoint but not from a negative emotional standpoint. The results suggest that anger is not a unitary process but has multiple components. The apology did provide a different physiological profile but did not dampen down the subjective experience of anger. Thus, providing an apology may not always be effective for alleviating the experience of anger to an insult.
文献链接：https://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0033006
