Who Repairs, and for Whom? The Structure of Moral Repair and Its Emotional Consequences

Guilt motivates moral repair, but little is known about what makes repair psychologically effective. Across four experiments, we examined how two structural features of compensation—who enacts the repair (agency) and who receives it (target correspondence)—shape group-based guilt following in-group wrongdoing. Self-enacted compensation directed toward the original victim produced the greatest reduction in group-based guilt. Compensation directed toward an unrelated other and compensation enacted by a third party toward the victim also reduced guilt, but were accompanied by increased sadness and shame, respectively. These findings show that guilt reduction does not necessarily constitute broader emotional resolution and that different reparative arrangements can leave distinct emotional consequences. Moral repair is therefore a structured process shaped by who repairs, whom the repair benefits, and what emotional concerns remain unresolved.