Evaluation of a Self-Forgiveness Intervention: Does it Promote Emotion Resolution and Prosocial Behavior?
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Self-forgiveness research indicates that resolving negative emotion about a transgression does not guarantee a prosocial response (e.g.apologizing or making amends; reducing defensiveness).A review of the literature indicates that the following processes may be important if emotion resolution and prosocial response are to occur: acknowledging responsibility, dealing with shame, apologizing and making amends, and releasing lingering negative feelings.In order to explore the role of these processes, undergraduates (n = 172) who had committed an offense against another person completed a web-based self-forgiveness intervention.The participants' emotional and behavioral responses were compared with the reactions of participants who did not receive the intervention.Results indicate that, compared to the control condition, the intervention significantly reduced participants' defensiveness regarding their role in the transgression and trended toward increasing their apology and amend behavior.Furthermore, in those who exhibited negative emotion at baseline, the intervention significantly reduced participants' feelings of remorse about their offense and trended toward decreasing shame and increasing self-forgiveness compared to the control condition.Suggestions for future self-forgiveness interventions are discussed.
Author: Mickie L. Fisher
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: W88252200