Forgiveness and Interpersonal Relationships: A Nepalese Investigation

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the practice of forgiveness in Nepal. A model relating collectivism and forgiveness was examined. Participants (N = 221) completed measures of collectivism, individualism, forgiveness, conciliatory behavior, and motivations for avoidance and revenge toward the offender. Collectivism was positively related to forgiveness. Forgiveness was strongly related to conciliatory behavior and motivations for avoidance and revenge toward the offender. Decisional forgiveness was a stronger predictor of motivations for revenge than was emotional forgiveness.     

Promoting Forgiveness: A Comparison of Two Brief Psychoeducational Group Interventions With a Waiting-List Control

The authors studied the effects of 2 brief psychoeducational group interventions on participants' forgiveness for an offender and compared them with a waiting-list control. The Self-Enhancement group justified forgiveness because of its physical and psychological benefits to the forgiver. The Interpersonal group justified forgiveness because of its utility in restoring interpersonal relationships. Both groups led to decreased feelings of revenge, increased positive feelings toward the offender, and greater reports of conciliatory behavior. The Self-Enhancement group also increased affirming attributions toward the offender, decreased feelings of revenge, and increased conciliatory behavior more effectively than did the Interpersonal group.     

Emotional and behavioral reactions to social undermining: A closer look at perceived offender motives

This study examined how perceptions of underlying offender motives affect victims’ emotional and behavioral reactions toward their offender. Perceived offender motives of malice and greed were embedded in a cognition–emotion–behavior model based on theories of attribution, forgiveness and revenge, and tested in the context of social undermining. Findings suggested that victims distinguished between offender malice and greed, and that these attributions shaped subsequent emotional reactions, which in turn demonstrated independent relations with revenge, avoidance, and reconciliation.     

Forgiveness,forbearance, and time: the temporal unfolding of transgression-related interpersonal motivations

The investigators proposed that transgression-related interpersonal motivations result from 3 psychological parameters: forbearance (abstinence from avoidance and revenge motivations, and maintenance of benevolence), trend forgiveness (reductions in avoidance and revenge, and increases in benevolence), and temporary forgiveness (transient reductions in avoidance and revenge, and transient increases in benevolence). In 2 studies, the investigators examined this 3-parameter model. Initial ratings of transgression severity and empathy were directly related to forbearance but not trend forgiveness. Initial responsibility attributions were inversely related to forbearance but directly related to trend forgiveness. When people experienced high empathy and low responsibility attributions, they also tended to experience temporary forgiveness. The distinctiveness of each of these 3 parameters underscores the importance of studying forgiveness temporally.     

For whom do we forgive? A functional analysis of forgiveness

We propose that people forgive to serve particular functions, depending on the extent to which forgiveness is intended to benefit the self, the offender, and their relationship. Three studies on personally experienced transgressions in valued relationships (Ns = 233, 239, and 83) indicate that victims are more likely to forgive for the sake of the self and the relationship than for an offender. Relationship focus is associated with increased benevolence and relationship quality and decreased revenge and avoidance. Offender focus is associated with nonvengeful motivations. Self focus is associated with avoidance and lower relationship closeness; in the immediate aftermath of a transgression, it is also related to unforgiving responses and reduced relationship satisfaction. The findings have important implications for forgiveness theorizing and application.     

Forgiveness in Younger,Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Age and Gender Matters

The present study investigated age and gender differences in forgiveness of real-life transgressions. Emerging and young, middle-aged, and older adults recalled the most recent and serious interpersonal transgression and then completed the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM-18), which measured their avoidance, revenge, and benevolence motivation toward an offender and indicated to what extent they are generally concerned with the subject of forgiveness. The results revealed a trend among middle-aged adults to express more avoidance than younger adults. Moreover, young men had a greater motivation to seek revenge than middle-aged and older men. No such age differences were apparent for women. Additionally, forgiveness was a more manifest subject in everyday life for middle-aged adults and women. These findings emphasize the importance of age and gender when investigating forgiveness.     

Forgiveness and religious practice: a study on a sample of Italian preadolescents

Abstract

In this study we examined the gender differences in self-reported forgiving behaviours in a sample of Italian preadolescents (aged 11 to 14 years), who were either involved or not involved in religious practises. Were asked 289 Catholic, Italian preadolescent students were asked about their involvement in the religious practises. They also completed measures of forgiveness, avoidance and revenge motivations. The results showed that forgiveness was negatively correlated to avoidance and revenge, as expected, given that these constructs represent two different forms of non-forgiveness. Avoidance and revenge motivations were positively inter-correlated, highlighting how these forms of non-forgiveness are two distinct, but related pathways, leading away from forgiveness. Regarding age, younger participants reported higher degrees of forgiveness than their older counterparts. Lastly, regarding the association between involvement in one’s faith and gender as predictors of forgiving behaviours, only girls actively practising their faith emerged as significantly more forgiving than the other participants.     

大学生人际宽恕发展趋势及其反刍思维的作用

目的探讨大学生人际宽恕(回避、报复和仁慈)的增长模型,以及反刍思维在人际宽恕及其发展过程中的影响作用。方法采用人际侵犯动机量表对在"一周内"遭受过冒犯行为的116名大学生的人际宽恕过程进行"每周一测"的5次跟踪测评,并使用反刍思维反应量表评估被试的反刍思维。结果 1回避和报复动机符合线性增长模型,而仁慈动机更符合曲线增长模型;2在控制了冒犯严重性、关系亲密性因素后,反刍思维对大学生人际宽恕各维度及其变化趋势具有显著预测作用。结论研究结果揭示了将人际宽恕各维度区分对待的重要性,同时说明反刍思维对大学生人际宽恕的适应性心理过程具有阻碍作用。     

Forgiveness, feeling connected to others, and well-being: two longitudinal studies

In two studies, the authors investigated the associations between interpersonal forgiveness and psychological well-being. Cross-sectional and prospective multilevel analyses demonstrated that increases in forgiveness (measured as fluctuations in individuals' avoidance, revenge, and benevolence motivations toward their transgressors) were related to within-persons increases in psychological well-being (measured as more satisfaction with life, more positive mood, less negative mood, and fewer physical symptoms). Moreover, forgiveness was more strongly linked to well-being for people who reported being closer and more committed to their partners before the transgression and for people who reported that their partners apologized and made amends for the transgression. Evidence for the reverse causal model, that increases in well-being were related to increases in forgiveness, was also found. However, changes in feelings of closeness toward the partner appeared to account for the associations of forgiveness with well-being, but not vice versa.     

宽宏大量与睚眦必报:宽恕和报复对愤怒的降低作用

本研究通过3个实验比较宽恕和报复对愤怒的降低作用。采用假设情景的方法,实验1通过在冒犯行为之后直接启动宽恕或报复,结果显示宽恕比报复对愤怒的降低作用更好,并且对消极情绪也具有降低作用;实验2考察在不同冒犯行为意图下宽恕与报复对愤怒的降低作用,结果显示不管是有意而为还是无心之过的冒犯行为,宽恕对愤怒的降低作用均要优于报复。实验3要求被试在冒犯行为后进行宽恕或报复,结果显示宽恕和报复对愤怒均有降低作用,但是宽恕的降低效果要显著优于报复。研究显示,对于冒犯行为后的愤怒感,宽恕的降低作用优于报复。     

Narcissism and lack of interpersonal forgiveness: The mediating role of state anger,state rumination,and state empathy

The present study investigated the unique contributions of two distinct dimensions of narcissism – admiration and rivalry – to two facets of unforgiveness: revenge and avoidance. In addition, we examined whether state anger, state rumination, and state empathy mediate this relationship. Using a large sample (N = 1040), we found that admiration was negatively related to revenge and avoidance via higher empathy for the transgressor. By contrast, rivalry was positively related to revenge and avoidance via greater anger and rumination and less empathy. Findings suggest that the mechanisms through which narcissism and lack of forgiveness are associated are better understood if we disentangle admiration and rivalry and consider both cognitive and affective antecedents of narcissists’ unforgiving motivations.     

Personality predictors of levels of forgiveness two and a half years after the transgression

The aim of the present study was to explore whether the domains and facets of the five-factor model of personality predicted motivational states for avoidance and revenge following a transgression at a second temporal point distant from the original transgression. A sample of 438 university students, who reported experiencing a serious transgression against them, completed measures of avoidance and revenge motivations around the transgression and five-factor personality domains and facets at time 1, and measures of avoidance and revenge motivations two and a half years later. The findings suggest that neuroticism, and specifically anger hostility, predicts revenge and avoidance motivations two and a half years later. Findings are discussed within McCullough’s three systems of interpersonal forgiveness.     

The cross-lagged relationship between interpersonal forgiveness and depression symptoms in China

This study investigated the relationship between the process of forgiveness and depressive symptoms in China. A total of 116 college students who had experienced an interpersonal transgression “within the past week” were selected to perform the tracking measurements at 2-week intervals. Cross-lagged models showed that the victim's depressive symptoms were related to increasing revenge and avoidance motivations as well as decreased benevolence motivation; however, the revenge, avoidance, and benevolence motivations of the victims did not predict subsequent changes in depressive symptoms. These results confirm that the presence of depressive symptoms is a predictor of the reduced interpersonal forgiveness, and the alleviation of individuals' depressive symptoms plays a protective role in the adaptive process of interpersonal relationships.     

A China–New Zealand comparison of forgiveness

The present study examined the practice of forgiveness among participants from China (N = 172) and New Zealand (N = 91). We tested a theoretical model describing the relationships between collectivism, individualism, and forgiveness. Participants from China were more collectivistic and less individualistic than were participants from New Zealand. Overall, participants from New Zealand were more forgiving than were participants from China. Collectivism was positively related to decisional forgiveness in Chinese participants. Decisional forgiveness independently predicted conciliatory behaviour among participants from China, but this was not the case for participants from New Zealand. Thus, the hypothesized model received qualified support.     

Grandiose Narcissism and Fairness in Social Exchanges

The present study explored how the personality variable, grandiose narcissism, was associated with various responses to unfairness such as retaliation, forgiveness and avoidance. Participants completed personality questionnaires and read a series of scenarios that depicted unfair treatment. They then answered questions concerning how they would respond to each scenario. Results revealed that grandiose narcissists were less likely to acquiesce and more likely to engage in revenge toward or avoid the person who treated them unfairly. Grandiose narcissism tended not to be associated with forgiveness in response to specific examples of unfair treatment. The consequences of narcissists’ more negative behavior during social exchanges are discussed, as are suggestions for future studies.     

Tipping the scales: Conciliatory behavior and the morality of self-forgiveness

Two studies examined whether conciliatory behavior aids self-forgiveness and whether it does so in part by making it seem more morally appropriate. Participants in Study 1 (n?=?269) completed an offense-recall procedure; participants in Study 2 (n?=?208) imagined a social transgression under conciliatory behavior (yes, no) and receipt of forgiveness (no, ambiguous, yes) conditions. Conciliatory behavior predicted (Study 1) and caused (Study 2) elevated self-forgiveness and increased perceptions of the moral appropriateness of self-forgiveness. Perceived morality consistently mediated the effect of conciliatory behavior on self-forgiveness. Received forgiveness and guilt were considered as additional mechanisms, but received mixed support. Results suggest that conciliatory behavior may influence self-forgiveness in part by satisfying moral prerequisites for self-forgiveness.     

认知抑制与人际宽恕:特质宽恕的调节作用

采用《特质宽恕量表》测量了102名大学生的特质宽恕能力,并通过Flanker任务和情景回忆法评估了被试的认知抑制和人际宽恕水平,目的是探讨特质宽恕、认知抑制与人际宽恕三者之间的关系。结果发现:(1)认知抑制、特质宽恕与人际宽恕各维度之间存在两两显著相关(除认知抑制与仁慈动机之外);(2)特质宽恕对回避、报复和仁慈动机均具有预测作用,而认知抑制则只对报复动机具有预测作用;(3)特质宽恕与认知抑制对回避动机具有负向的调节作用,对仁慈动机具有正向的调节作用。     

Getting even or moving on? Power, procedural justice, and types of offense as predictors of revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, and avoidance in organizations

A field study and an experimental study examined relationships among organizational variables and various responses of victims to perceived wrongdoing. Both studies showed that procedural justice climate moderates the effect of organizational variables on the victim's revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation, or avoidance behaviors. In Study 1, a field study, absolute hierarchical status enhanced forgiveness and reconciliation, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high; relative hierarchical status increased revenge, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were low. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment, victims were less likely to endorse vengeance or avoidance depending on the type of wrongdoing, but only when perceptions of procedural justice climate were high.     

Self-esteem moderates the response to forgiveness instructions among women with a history of victimization

The present study examined whether self-esteem would moderate women’s affect after being exposed to brief instructional interventions tapping into two dimensions of forgiveness: an interpersonal dimension focusing on forgiving the offender, and an intrapersonal dimension focusing on letting go of one’s negative affect toward the offender. The positive and negative affect of 79 women with a history of victimization was assessed after they listened to instructions for either granting forgiveness, letting go of their negative affect, or relaxation (control). Results indicated differential effects of the instructions on emotions directed toward themselves versus toward the offender. Women had more negative emotions about themselves when they received the granting forgiveness instructions, but they had greater positive emotions toward their offenders. Women’s responses were moderated by self-esteem in that there was no differential effect of the instructions among women low in self-esteem, but women high in self-esteem had a relatively positive response to the letting-go instructions and a generally negative reaction to the traditional forgiveness instructions.     

Overcoming Interpersonal Offenses: Is Forgiveness the Only Way to Deal With Unforgiveness?

Almost everyone is unforgiving at times. Many people seek to deal with the revenge and avoidance of unforgiveness by forgiving. The authors explore potential predictors of unforgiveness and forgiveness for a specific offense in 91 undergraduates. Positive feelings of forgiveness were uniquely predicted by dispositional forgivingness and by the participants' deliberate attempt to forgive the offense. Different patterns of predictors suggest that unforgiveness and forgiveness are not necessarily reciprocally related. This implies that interventions might be developed to reduce unforgiveness without attempting to promote forgiveness. This may be crucial in situations where forgiveness is not desirable.