After proving a historical context for understanding the three core constructs explored in this chapter, forgiveness, optimal functioning and close relationships, the chapter provides a conceptual analysis of each construct. A review follows of basic research on forgiveness in close relationships and of efficacy research on forgiveness interventions. Existing research is briefly critiqued befor...

OBJECTIVES This study examines the relationship between interpersonal forgiveness and health for older Blacks and Whites. We outline a series of arguments concerning the following: (a) how forgiveness can affect health, (b) how forgiveness may be more protective for Blacks, and (c) how the relationship between forgiveness and health may vary by neighborhood deterioration. METHOD Two waves (20...

Abstract The distinction between guilt and shame is well established in psychology. Research suggests that shame-proneness correlates with problematic outcomes, while guilt-proneness more likely related to adaptive behaviors. Consequently, considered an unhealthy moral emotion, seen as response one’s failures. Biblical stories appear this regard. Story of the Sinful Woman Luke 7:36–50 exhibits ...

A well-worn French proverb pronounces ‘ tout comprendre c’est pardonner’ (‘to understand all is to forgive all’). Is forgiveness the inevitable consequence of social scientific understanding actions and lives perpetrators serious wrongdoing? Do explanations provide excuses or justifications for that purport explain? In this essay, I seek clarification these intertwined explanatory moral questio...

Two studies examined how non-interpersonal forgiveness (when there is no social relationship between the transgressor and forgiver) related to coping and involuntary responses to stress, psychological distress, and religiosity. Three to six weeks after September 11th, 2001, forgiveness had non-linear associations with other responses to the terrorist attacks. Among college students (N=488), tho...

In this paper, I begin with a familiar puzzle about forgiveness, namely, how to distinguish forgiveness from excuse on the one hand and “letting go” on the other. After considering three recent and influential accounts of forgiveness that offer answers to this challenge among others, I develop an alternative model of forgiveness as a kind of personal release from debt or obligation. I argue tha...

BACKGROUND People with drug and/or alcohol problems often experience feelings of shame and guilt, which have been associated with poorer recovery. Self-forgiveness has the potential to reduce these negative experiences. METHODS The current study tested theorized mediators (acceptance, conciliatory behavior, empathy) of the relationships between shame and guilt with self-forgiveness. A cross-s...

Previous work has demonstrated that individuals high (vs. low) in forgiveness are faster to rate their current thoughts and feelings toward their transgressor (i.e., their state forgiveness), but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. The present study examined whether individual differences in rumination about the transgression would mediate the association between forgiveness and response...

The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess perspectives on the acceptability and the potential applicability of a forgiveness education in patients with fibromyalgia. The concept and tools of forgiveness were presented to thirteen women (age: 40 54 years) with a previous diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Subjects participated in 1 of 2 focus groups following a 90-minute education session in w...

OBJECTIVE This study investigates the efficacy of the 6-hour REACH Forgiveness intervention among culturally diverse undergraduates. METHOD Female undergraduates (N = 102) and foreign extraction (46.2%) and domestic (43.8%) students in the United States were randomly assigned to immediate treatment or waitlist conditions. Treatment efficacy and the effect of culture on treatment response were...