Intellectual humility and forgiveness of religious leaders

This article presents two studies that examined how perceptions of intellectual humility affect response to a transgression by a religious leader. In Study 1, participants (N = 105) rated the religious leader on intellectual humility regarding different religious beliefs and values, as well as general humility and forgiveness of the leader for a transgression. Perceived intellectual humility was positively associated with forgiveness, even when controlling for perceived general humility. In Study 2, we replicated the findings from Study 1 on an independent sample (N = 299). Also, the type of offense moderated the association between perceived intellectual humility and forgiveness. For participants, who reported an offense in the area of religious beliefs, values, or convictions, the association between perceived intellectual humility and forgiveness was stronger than for participants, who reported a different type of offense. We conclude by discussing limitations and areas for future research.     

Humble Beginnings: Current Trends,State Perspectives,and Hallmarks of Humility

After decades of neglect, research in humility is finally turning a corner. Within the past few years, investigators have articulated two promising strategies to overcome methodological concerns – namely, using personality judgments and designing humility “stress tests” to elicit humility‐relevant behavior. We also highlight an alternative perspective of humility that has not yet gained much attention: the investigation of humility as a state, which helps to understand what humility actually is, how it functions, and its variability within individuals over time. To improve the observation of humility‐relevant behavior, we propose five intrapersonal and interpersonal hallmarks of humility that have strong theoretical support, can distinguish between humility's conceptual foils of narcissism and low self‐esteem, and provide broad theoretical ties between ongoing research endeavors: A secure, accepting identity, freedom from distortion, openness to new information, other‐focus, and egalitarian beliefs. Finally, to increase methodological rigor, we recommend using a combination of self‐reports and other‐reports and employing multiple raters with demonstrated inter‐rater reliability in validation studies.     

What Does Leaders' Character Add to Transformational Leadership?

The influence of leaders' character (e.g., integrity, humility/forgiveness) has rarely been examined in leadership research. The current investigation focused on the impact of integrity and humility/forgiveness on both followers' perceptions of leaders' worthiness of being followed (WBF) and stress. Results from a scenario experiment (n = 347) and a field study (n = 110) indicated that these aspects incrementally predict WBF above and beyond the impact of transformational leadership. Similar results were found concerning followers' stress with the exception of leader integrity in the field study. According to relative importance analyses, integrity and transformational leadership predict WBF equally well. The results have conceivable implications for human resources (personnel selection and development). Future research should examine additional outcome variables that are affected by certain leader characteristics as well as potential negative effects of the examined character aspects.     

Reflections on and Future Directions in Humility and Forgiveness Research

Research on humility and forgiveness has reached an important milestone. Scholars are transitioning from largely studying these character strengths in convenience samples (typically university undergraduates) to conducting studies in diverse samples that more accurately reflect the overall adult population in the United States. At important junctures like these, the field needs to both look back and learn from the work to date, as well as to look forward at the new questions that can now bed addressed with these expanded samples. In looking back, previous scholarship demonstrates a strong synthesis between forgiveness and humility, indicating the value of examining these characteristics together. Noel Card (this issue)’s meta-analyses of previous studies’ use of forgiveness and humility measures is also quite timely as it highlights the strengths of various measures, as well as where future measurement work is still needed. In looking forward, the remaining four articles within this issue (Krause, this issue; Hill, this issue; Webster, Ajrouch, & Antonucci, this issue; Antonucci, Ajrouch, Webster, & Birditt, this issue) raise, and begin to address, important developmental questions surrounding forgiveness and humility, such as between group differences, the role of social context, the impact of life stage, and adversity’s possible influence. Cumulatively, these papers point towards the critical questions the field of forgiveness and humility scholars need to address, especially as interest grows in application and intervention development.     

Hope as Grounds for Forgiveness

It is widely assumed that Christianity enjoins its followers to practice universal, unconditional forgiveness. But universal, unconditional forgiveness is regarded by many as morally problematic. Some Christian scholars have denied that Christianity in fact requires universal, unconditional forgiveness, but I believe they are mistaken. In this essay, I show two things: (1) that Christianity does enjoin universal, unconditional forgiveness of a certain sort, and (2) that Christians, and perhaps other theists, are always justified in exercising unconditional forgiveness. Though most philosophers treat forgiveness as grounded in our beliefs about the offender's current state, I argue that we might more fruitfully ground forgiveness in hope for the wrongdoer. Christianity's commitment to the existence of an omnipotent God who is concerned about the moral status of His creatures always justifies such hope and thus always justifies forgiveness.     

Interview With Dr. Judith Miranti: A Servant Leader and Advocate for the Association for Spiritual,Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling

Dr. Judith Miranti has contributed over 40 years of service to the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC). The purpose of this article is to highlight and recognize a pioneer and influential leader of ASERVIC. The interview discusses Dr. Miranti's (a) historical knowledge and memories of the development of ASERVIC, (b) involvement in ASERVIC in various leadership roles and with others who influenced her, and (c) hope for the future of ASERVIC.     

To connect is to be influenced: What determines a third‐party's forgiveness attitudes to conflicting groups' violent partisan members?

The present research seeks to answer the question of what determines an uninvolved third party's forgiveness attitudes toward conflicting groups' violent partisan members. Specifically, Bangladeshi participants read a fictitious interview with a radicalized Palestinian who declared his intention to avenge himself against Israelis for his personal and collective plight by carrying out a suicide bombing attack. Findings reveal that an empathy manipulation (high empathy = other focused or low empathy = objective focused) influenced participants' forgiveness attitudes towards the radicalized Palestinian such that in the high empathy condition participants were more forgiving of the target than participants in the low empathy condition. Moreover, while the strength of their religious identification (Islam) played no significant role, participants' tendency to attribute the target's decision to situational factors fully mediated the effects of empathy on forgiveness.     

Interrelationship Among Injured Parties' Attributions of Responsibility,Appraisal of Appropriateness to Forgive the Transgressor,Forgiveness, and Repentance

The purpose of this research was to examine the interrelationship among attributions of responsibility, repentance, victims' appraisal of the appropriateness of forgiving the transgressor, and forgiveness. It is argued that an injured party's appraisal of how appropriate it is to forgive the transgressor is important in understanding discrepant theoretical and empirical observations regarding the relationship between responsibility judgments and forgiveness. In one nonexperimental/naturalistic study and 2 experiments, we confirmed predictions that responsibility attributions would positively relate with a victim's appraisal of how appropriate it is to forgive the transgressor, and negatively with forgiveness. In addition, all 3 studies confirmed that a victim's appraisal of the appropriateness to forgive the transgressor explains the relationship between responsibility judgments and forgiveness.     

The Effect of Preemptive Forgiveness and a Transgressor's Responsibility on Shame,Motivation to Reconcile,and Repentance

The primary aim of this research was to examine the effects of an injured party's preemptive forgiveness (grudge, none, explicit, implied) on a transgressor's repentance. We also explored the moderating role of a transgressor's judgment of responsibility (low, high) and the mediating role that feelings of shame and motivation to reconcile play in the preemptive forgiveness → repentance process. The results of two experiments showed that different types of forgiveness had different effects on repentance and prosocial conduct. In Study 2, we extended these findings by examining the moderating role that judgment of responsibility plays and the mediating role that shame and motivation to reconcile plays in the preemptive forgiveness → repentance process. These experiments show that, relative to holding a grudge, no forgiveness, and explicit forgiveness, the most effective preemptive prosocial strategy was implied forgiveness, particularly when judgments of responsibility were low. In addition, a stepdown analysis suggests that the effects of forgiveness and responsibility on repentance are mediated by a transgressor's shame and motivation to reconcile.     

Thirsting for God in the Classroom: A Meditation on Psalm 42:1–8

Abstract. This brief meditation on teaching was shared at a gathering of mid‐career theological school teachers for a retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona. It draws upon the author's familiarity with the desert to provide a metaphoric exploration of the “desiccation and delight” that surprises us repeatedly in our classrooms and instructs us in humility and hope.     

Pardoning Puritanism: Community,Character, and Forgiveness in the Work of Richard Baxter

The English Puritan Richard Baxter (1615–1691) developed an account of forgiveness that resonates with twentieth‐century virtue ethics. He understood forgiveness as one component of a larger disposition of character developed in community as human beings recognize themselves as sinful creatures engaged in complex relationships of dependency and responsibility, with both God and one another. In the midst of these relationships, persons experience divine and human forgiveness and discover opportunities to practice forgiveness in return. Baxter thus negotiated a distinctive relationship between Christian hope for reconciliation and more stereotypical Puritan emphases on punishment, civil order, and justice. At the same time that recent moral reflection allows us to raise questions about some features of Baxter's argument (such as his treatment of anger), his work provides important resources for correlating dispositions with concrete obligations, establishing a place for forgiveness in the public realm, and counterbalancing the modern emphasis on individual rights.     

The Relationship Between Episodic and Dispositional Forgiveness,Psychosocial Development,and Counseling

The relationship between episodic and dispositional forgiveness and the resolution of Erikson's (1963) psychosocial crises were explored in this study. Participants (N = 66) completed the Enright Forgiveness Inventory ( Enright & Rique, 2004 ), Tendency to Forgive Scale ( Brown, 2003 ), and Measures of Psychosocial Development ( Hawley, 1988 ). Results are consistent with forgiveness and Eriksonian theories. Episodic forgiveness and dispositional forgiveness accounted for 8% and 10%, respectively, of the variance in global resolution of psychosocial crises. The most pronounced relationship was between both forgiveness types and Erikson's crises related to basic trust and ego integrity. Implications for counseling research, practice, and training are discussed.     

Understanding Humility and Its Role in Relational Therapy

Humility is a character trait and virtue that has received scant attention in psychotherapy literature. A panel of experts was assembled to confer on their beliefs about humility for this Delphi study. They responded to a proposed definition of humility and provided a variety of statements regarding the role of humility in client change and relational therapy in general. The results suggest that key elements of change that occur during the process of relational therapy (including certain “common factors”) seem to be related to humility. Also, humility’s unique relationship to self and other suggests it is often at work in relational change. The authors propose further exploration of humility and its role as a pre-cursor to client change efforts. Humility’s role in the Transtheoretical Model of Change is hypothesized and future directions for theory and research are suggested.     

Facilitating forgiveness in the treatment of infidelity: an interpersonal model

This article presents a unique clinical model of forgiveness developed specifically for use in the treatment of infidelity. The model focuses on forgiveness as a central component of the process of healing for couples who desire relationship reconciliation following an affair. Infidelity causes significant damage for couples and results in a loss of trust and relationship stability. However, couples can become reunified and trust may be restored as couples work through the process of forgiveness. Forgiveness is facilitated as therapists and clients focus on four unifying factors: empathy, humility, commitment and apology. Specific steps are outlined for therapists to help them guide clients through the process of forgiveness. The clinical application of the model is illustrated with a brief case example.     

An Open Heart,an Open Mind: An Interview With Dr. Cheri Smith

Dr. Cheri Smith has been a distinguished and contributing member of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC) for over 20 years. Dr. Smith's commitment as well as advocacy for ASERVIC and the counseling profession is remarkable. The purpose of this article is to highlight Dr. Smith's contributions to ASERVIC through an interview that focuses on her inspirations and influences; involvement in various leadership roles; and views on ASERVIC's past, present, and future.     

Hope,Anger, and Depression as Mediators for Forgiveness and Social Behavior in Turkish Children

ABSTRACT. This study examined the mediating effects of hope, anger, and depression in the associations between forgiveness and social behavior, in fourth grade students in Turkey. The 352 fourth grade primary school students were involved in the study. The average age was 9.98 and 56.3% were boys. The Enright Forgiveness Inventory for Children (EFI-C), the Beck Anger Inventory for Youth (BANI-Y), the Children Hope Scale (CHS), the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ), and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) were used. Results showed that depression mediates the relationship between anger and antisocial behavior and between hope and antisocial behavior. Anger mediates the relationship between hope and depression and between hope and antisocial behavior. Forgiveness was related to anger and hope directly. Implications of this study for child counseling were discussed.     

An empathy-humility-commitment model of forgiveness applied within family dyads

Forgiveness is described as requiring empathy for the offender, the humility to see oneself as being as fallible and needy as the offender, and courage to commit publicly to forgive. Research supports the model in individual therapy and psychoeducational groups in which the forgiver does not have to confront the offender. Family therapy, in which partners, parent–child dyads or siblings must confess their need for forgiveness and forgive face to face provides special challenges. Processes of forgiveness – empathy, humility and commitment – are understood to be the same as in any interpersonal forgiveness context; that is, they are thought to occur within dyads. Techniques compatible with several varieties of family therapies are summarized for applying the model in family therapy to encourage family members to forgive.     

Development and initial validation of an implicit measure of humility relative to arrogance

Data from two studies describe the development of an implicit measure of humility and support the idea that dispositional humility is a positive quality with possible benefits. In Study 1, 135 college students completed Humility and Self-Esteem Implicit Association Tests (IATs) and several self-report measures of personality self-concept. Fifty-four participants also completed the Humility IAT again approximately 2 weeks later and their humility was rated by close acquaintances. The Humility IAT was found to be internally and temporally consistent. Implicit humility correlated with self-reported humility relative to arrogance, implicit self-esteem, and narcissism (inversely). Humility was not associated with self-reported low self-esteem, pessimism, or depression. In fact, self-reported humility relative to arrogance correlated positively with self-reported self-esteem, gratitude, forgiveness, spirituality, and general health. In addition, self-reported humility and acquaintance-rated humility correlated positively; however, implicit humility and acquaintance-rated humility were not strongly associated. In Study 2, to examine the idea that humility might be associated with increased academic performance, we examined actual course grades of 55 college students who completed Humility and Self-Esteem IATs. Implicit humility correlated positively with higher actual course grades when narcissism, conscientiousness, and implicit self-esteem were simultaneously controlled. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

The varying meaning of forgiveness: Relationship closeness moderates how forgiveness affects feelings of justice

Psychological research has repeatedly shown that victims are more likely to forgive socially close than distant others, but little research has addressed the question whether forgiveness in these two cases actually has the same psychological meaning. As one approach to this issue, the present research investigates how acts of forgiveness aid the restoration of victims' justice feelings through different processes, depending on the closeness of their relationship to the offender. In two studies (Study 1 using a scenario method, Study 2 an autobiographical recall), the victim's perceptions of value consensus with the offender mediated justice‐restoring effects of forgiveness expressed towards a close offender, whereas feelings of status/power mediated justice‐restoring effects of forgiveness expressed towards a distant offender. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

员工宽恕的前因与后果：多层次模型

采用问卷调查法, 以50名直属主管和298名员工的配对数据为样本, 考察了员工宽恕的前因与后果。跨层次分析结果表明：(1)宽恕氛围对员工宽恕有显著的正向影响; 中庸思维对宽恕氛围与员工宽恕的关系具有正向调节作用, 员工的中庸思维越高, 宽恕氛围对其宽恕的积极影响越大。(2)真诚和谐对员工宽恕与其人际公民行为的关系具有调节作用, 对于高真诚和谐的员工, 其宽恕对人际公民行为有显著的正向影响; 而对于低真诚和谐的员工, 其宽恕对人际公民行为并无显著影响。(3)表面和谐对员工宽恕与其人际公民行为的关系具有调节作用, 对于高表面和谐的员工, 其宽恕对人际公民行为无显著影响; 而对于低表面和谐的员工, 其宽恕对人际公民行为有显著的正向影响。