People treat personal apology acts like signing a Sorry Book as collective action

Evidence

Perhaps the best way to understand this phenomenon is to consider what respondents believe they are doing when they make such personal apologies (e.g., sign a Sorry Book). We have not explored this issue empirically, but one plausible account is that people see signing a Sorry Book as a form of collective action. That is, signing a Sorry Book may be much like signing a petition. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 857

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: People supporting apology often deny collective guilt and responsibility — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 1677; Rejecting whole-group accountability is a way people avoid collective guilt — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 17

Broader Connections

• People supporting apology often deny collective guilt and responsibility #complicates (0.72) — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt, 1677
• Rejecting whole-group accountability is a way people avoid collective guilt #corroborates (0.72) — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 17