Year: 2008
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: The present study investigated how motivations underlying the decision to forgive affected outcomes for forgivers.Using a web-based study, 185 undergraduates who had been hurt by someone close to them were randomly assigned to either a control condition or a condition focusing on one of the following motivations for forgiving: personal benefit, moral obligation, and goodwill.Compared to the control group, all three forgiveness conditions reported higher forgiveness levels, more pro-forgiveness attitudes, and less negative emotions toward the transgressor.The forgiveness conditions did not differ except for perceived autonomy in the decision to forgive, for which the personal benefit group ranked highest.Gender acted as a moderator on participants' response to forgiveness conditions.Females did not respond to the conditions differently, while males in the forgiveness conditions-the goodwill condition in particular-reported higher levels of forgiveness and lower negative emotions toward the transgressor as compared to the control group.
Author: Briana L. Root
Institution: Case Western Reserve University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Case Western Reserve University
OpenAlex ID: W2263480660