Sometimes it's easier to forgive my transgressor than your transgressor: effects of subjective temporal distance on forgiveness for harm to self or close other

The present research extended previous work on the third‐party (un)forgiveness effect—the tendency to be more forgiving for transgressions committed against the self than a close other—by testing how subjective temporal distance of first‐ and third‐party transgressions might influence the forgiveness process. Participants recalled a time in which they or a close other was harmed by another person, and was then made to feel either distant from or close to the transgression. As predicted, third‐party (un)forgiveness was observed when transgressions felt distant, but not when transgressions felt recent. Implications for restoring and maintaining positive relationships are discussed.