Interpersonal forgiving was conceptualized in the context of a 2-factor motivational system that governs people's responses to interpersonal offenses Four studies were conducted to examine the extent to which forgiving could be predicted with relationship-level variables such as satisfaction, commitment, and closeness; offense-level variables such as apology and impact of the offense; and social-cognitive variables such as offunder-focused empathy and rumination about the offense Also described is the development of the transgression-related interpersonal motivations inventory--a self-report measure designed to assess the 2-component motivational system (Avoidance and Revenge) posited to underlie forgiving The measure demonstrated a variety of desirable psychometric properties, commending its use for future research As predicted, empathy, apology, rumination, and several indexes of relationship closeness were associated with self-reported forgiving

Interpersonal Forgiving in Close Relationships: II. Theoretical Elaboration and Measurement

Forgiving is a motivational transformation that inclines people to inhibit relationship-destructive responses and to behave constructively toward someone who has behaved destructively toward them. The authors describe a model of forgiveness based on the hypothesis that people forgive others to the extent that they experience empathy for them. Two studies investigated the empathy model of forgiveness. In Study 1, the authors developed measures of empathy and forgiveness. The authors found evidence consistent with the hypotheses that (a) the relationship between receiving an apology from and forgiving one's offender is a function of increased empathy for the offender and (b) that forgiving is uniquely related to conciliatory behavior and avoidance behavior toward the offending partner. In Study 2, the authors conducted an intervention in which empathy was manipulated to examine the empathy-forgiving relationship more closely. Results generally supported the conceptualization of forgiving as a motivational phenomenon and the empathy-forgiving link.

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/73/2/321.pdf

Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships

The Alienation Between Religion and Psychology The New Zeitgeist Western and Eastern Spiritual World Views A Theistic Spiritual View of Personality and Mental Health A Theistic Spiritual View of Psychotherapy Ethical Issues and Guidelines Religious and Spiritual Assessment Religious and Spiritual Practices as Therapeutic Interventions Spiritual Interventions Used by Contemporary Psychotherapists Case Reports of Spiritual Issues and Interventions in Psychotherapy A Theistic Spiritual View of Science and Research Methods Directions for the Future.

A Spiritual Strategy for Counseling and Psychotherapy

Six studies regarding forgiveness are presented. The Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), a self-report measure of dispositional forgiveness (with subscales to assess forgiveness of self, others, and situations) was developed and demonstrated good psychometric properties. Forgiveness correlated positively with cognitive flexibility, positive affect, and distraction; it correlated negatively with rumination, vengeance, and hostility. Forgiveness predicted four components of psychological well-being (anger, anxiety, depression, and satisfaction with life); forgiveness of situations accounted for unique variance in these components of psychological well-being. Forgiveness and hostility demonstrated equivalent, inverse associations with relationship duration, and forgiveness accounted for unique variance in relationship satisfaction, even when controlling for trust. Forgiveness level correlated positively with decreased negativity in statements written about transgressions in the present versus the past tense.

Dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations.

Helping Clients Forgive: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope

A psychotherapeutic intervention with forgiveness as the goal was implemented with 24 elderly females. The client's goal was to forgive one person who had inflicted considerable psychological hurt, as judged by the client. The subjects were randomly assigned to a forgiveness condition and a control group. The forgiveness group followed a treatment model based on Enright et al. (1991). Dependent variables included two forgiveness scales, a self-esteem inventory, a psychological depression scale, and a state-trait anxiety scale. Following the eight week intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher forgiveness profiles at posttest compared with the control group. Both groups significantly decreased from pretest to posttest on psychological depression and trait anxiety. Implications for forgiveness counseling are discussed.

John H. Hebl

Papers

Forgiveness As A Psychotherapeutic Goal With Elderly Females