article

In praise of forgiveness: Ways for repairing trust breakdowns in one-off online interactions

Authors:

Asimina Vasalou,

Astrid Hopfensitz,

Jeremy V. PittAuthors Info & Claims

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Volume 66, Issue 6

Pages 466 - 480

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2008.02.001

Published: 01 June 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Online offences are generally considered as frequent and intentional acts performed by a member with the aim to deceive others. However, an offence may also be unintentional or exceptional, performed by a benevolent member of the community. This article examines whether a victim's decrease in trust towards an unintentional or occasional offender can be repaired in an online setting, by designing and evaluating systems to support forgiveness. We study which of three systems enable the victim of a trust breakdown to fairly assess this kind of offender. The three systems are: (1) a reputation system, (2) a reputation system with a built-in apology forum that may display the offender's apology to the victim and (3) a reputation system with a built-in apology forum that also includes a ''forgiveness'' component. The ''forgiveness'' component presents the victim with information that demonstrates the offender's trustworthiness as judged by the system. We experimentally observe that systems (2) and (3), endorsing apology and supporting forgiveness, allow victims to recover their trust after online offences. An apology from the offender restores the victim's trust only if the offender cooperates in a future interaction; it does not alleviate the trust breakdown immediately after it occurs. By contrast, the ''forgiveness'' component restores the victim's trust directly after the offence and in a subsequent interaction. The applicability of these findings for extending reputation systems is discussed.

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Cited By

Milanovic KPitt J(2021)Misattribution of Error Origination: The Impact of Preconceived Expectations in Co-Operative Online GamesProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462043(707-717)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3461778.3462043
Laifa MGiglou RSamir AMaamri R(2018)Forgiveness Predictors and Trust in a Digital AgeInternational Journal of Technology and Human Interaction10.4018/IJTHI.201810010214:4(23-42)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJTHI.2018100102
Laifa MAkrouf SMammeri R(2018)Forgiveness and trust dynamics on social networksAdaptive Behavior - Animals, Animats, Software Agents, Robots, Adaptive Systems10.1177/105971231876273326:2(65-83)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/1059712318762733
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Index Terms

In praise of forgiveness: Ways for repairing trust breakdowns in one-off online interactions
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Information systems
  1. Information retrieval
    1. Users and interactive retrieval
      1. Personalization
  2. World Wide Web
    1. Web searching and information discovery
      1. Personalization

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cover image International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 66, Issue 6

June, 2008

89 pages

ISSN:1071-5819

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © Elsevier Ltd © 2008.

Publisher

Academic Press, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 2008

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Cited By

Milanovic KPitt J(2021)Misattribution of Error Origination: The Impact of Preconceived Expectations in Co-Operative Online GamesProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462043(707-717)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3461778.3462043
Laifa MGiglou RSamir AMaamri R(2018)Forgiveness Predictors and Trust in a Digital AgeInternational Journal of Technology and Human Interaction10.4018/IJTHI.201810010214:4(23-42)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.4018/IJTHI.2018100102
Laifa MAkrouf SMammeri R(2018)Forgiveness and trust dynamics on social networksAdaptive Behavior - Animals, Animats, Software Agents, Robots, Adaptive Systems10.1177/105971231876273326:2(65-83)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1177/1059712318762733
Binmad RLi M(2018)Psychology-Inspired Trust Restoration Framework in Distributed Multiagent SystemsScientific Programming10.1155/2018/75158602018Online publication date: 1-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1155/2018/7515860
Granatyr JOsman NDias JNunes MMasthoff JEnembreck FLessing OSierra CPaiva AScalabrin E(2017)The Need for Affective Trust Applied to Trust and Reputation ModelsACM Computing Surveys10.1145/307883350:4(1-36)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3078833
Binmad RLi M(2017)Improving the Efficiency of an Online Marketplace by Incorporating Forgiveness MechanismACM Transactions on Internet Technology10.1145/299618917:1(1-20)Online publication date: 20-Jan-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2996189
Kantert JTomforde SKauder MScharrer REdenhofer SHähner JMüller-Schloer C(2016)Controlling Negative Emergent Behavior by Graph Analysis at RuntimeACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems10.1145/289050711:2(1-34)Online publication date: 6-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2890507
Pitt JArtikis A(2015)The open agent societyArtificial Intelligence and Law10.1007/s10506-015-9173-y23:3(241-270)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10506-015-9173-y
Harvey JGolightly DSmith AJones MPalanque PSchmidt AGrossman T(2014)HCI as a means to prosociality in the economyProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2556288.2557367(2955-2964)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2556288.2557367
Han TPereira LSantos FLenaerts T(2013)Why is it so hard to say sorry? evolution of apology with commitments in the iterated Prisoner's DilemmaProceedings of the Twenty-Third international joint conference on Artificial Intelligence10.5555/2540128.2540156(177-183)Online publication date: 3-Aug-2013
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