Any statement or action — silly or otherwise — that prevents negativity from escalating out of control - ie referring to an inside joke when there is a lull in your argument, or reaching out to say “can we start afresh?”
Repair attempts are a way of reaching out and indicating even though you are at odds, you still care for them.
Coined by the Gottmans
https://www.gottman.com/blog/r-is-for-repair
keywords - fighting, apologies,