Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships.

TLDR

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. In Study 1 the authors developed measures of empathy and forgiveness, and in Study 2 they conducted an empathy‑manipulation intervention to examine the empathy‑forgiveness relationship more closely. The studies found that forgiveness is linked to increased empathy, predicts conciliatory and avoidance behaviors, and is strengthened by apologies, supporting the empathy‑forgiveness link.

Abstract

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.