Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: II: Theoretical elaboration and measurement

“Empathy with a transgressor correlates strongly with the extent to which a person forgives that transgressor (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“It has become clear that relationship variables are related to forgiveness, including commitment (Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, & Hannon, 2002), closeness (McCullough et al., 1998), and relationship satisfaction (Fincham & Beach, 2002a; Fincham, Paleari, & Regalia, 2002).”

“& Hight, T. L. (1998) Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: II.”

“, holding beliefs about the appropriateness of vengeful actions for obtaining one’s goals and using it as an interpersonal problem-solving strategy) and deterring forgiveness for specific transgressions (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“who share a committed relationship with the harm-doers are the most likely forgive and the least likely to take revenge (Boon & Yoshimura 2016, Exline et al. 2004, Finkel et al. 2002, McCullough et al. 1998).”

“This line of research has revealed, among other things, that apology is perhaps one of the most powerful determinants of forgiveness (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Likewise, narcissism is negatively correlated with empathy (Watson, Grisham, Trotter, & Biderman, 1984), which appears to play an important role in forgiveness ( McCullough et al., 1998 ).”

“Previous research, however, has demonstrated that people do ruminate about unforgiven offences (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“The Transgression–Related Interpersonal Motivations Scale (TRIM; McCullough et al., 1998) is a 12–item measure that assesses both avoidance (e.g., I cut off the relationship with him/her) and revenge (e.g., I wish that something bad would happen to him/her) motivations.”

“…more likely to act on relational concerns toward the offender, resulting for instance in more cooperation and willingness to sacrifice for the offender and more constructive communication between partners (Fincham, 2000; Fincham & Beach, 2002; Karremans & Van Lange, 2003; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“It is perhaps curious that, in this article on apologies, I did not deal directly with the important concept of forgiveness, which research has found to be associated with relational satisfaction and commitment (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“…research linking interpersonal apologies with increased positive attributions about the offender (such as perceived remorse) and increased forgiveness (e.g., Darby & Schlenker, 1989; Exline & Baumeister, 2000; Gold & Weiner, 2000; Gonzales, 1992; McCullough et al., 1998; Schmitt et al., 2004).”

“Indeed, previous research has demonstrated that it is important to let go of ruminative thoughts about the offense to be able to forgive an offender (e.g., Kachadourian et al., 2005; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Forgiveness scales partially avoid this problem by incorporating various aspects of forgiveness; however, the majority of forgiveness scales seem to be derived mainly from conversations with faculty, researchers, clergy, and clinical psychologists (e.g., Hargrave & Sells, 1997; McCullough et al., 1998; Subkoviak et al…”

“92), which has been correlated with forgiveness in previous work (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“…study also explored whether the five-factor model of personality predicts forgiveness beyond other empirically established predictors such as religiousness (Poloma & Gallup, 1991; Rokeach, 1973; Shoemaker & Bolt, 1977) and empathy (McCullough et al., 1998; McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997).”

“…Midwestern university were randomly assigned into a malicious (n = 33), greed (n = 37) or control condition (n = 32) and presented with a written scenario that described an incident wherein an offender purposefully gave them false information which caused them to fail on an important…”

“Forgiveness involves decreases in negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards an offender following an interpersonal transgression ( McCullough et al., 1997, 1998 ).”

“Empathy has long been considered important for fostering interpersonal forgiveness (e.g. Fehr et al., 2010; McCullough et al., 1997, 1998), and thus, we might hypothesize, intergroup forgiveness.”

“A victim’s experience of empathy leads them to care more for the transgressor and the affected relationship, making them more likely to forgive (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Particularly, we examine consumer forgiveness as a motivational construct to measure their willingness to forgive a transgressing brand (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“McCullough et al. (1998) have proposed that individuals might react to any transgression made against them in two different ways: (a) motivation to seek revenge, and (b) motivation to avoid contacting the offender.”

“…within the relationship (Rusbult, 1983), trust (Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998), relationship closeness (Miller, 1997), partner forgiveness (McCullough et al., 1998), and pro-relationship behaviors, such as accommodation and willingness to sacrifice for the partner (Wieselquist, Rusbult,…”

“Previous literature shows that emotional attachment is likely to lead to forgiveness of mishaps committed by the partners (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Consistent with our second hypothesis, relationship satisfaction was indeed significantly related to episodic forgiveness (e.g., Fincham, 2000; Fincham et al., 2002; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Most conceptualizations of forgiveness describe it as a deliberative process that transforms a vengeful, negative response into a positive one (Baumeister, Stillwell, & Wotman, 1990; de Waal, 2000; Fincham, 2000; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“…researchers have shown that partners are more willing to forgive one another for interpersonal transgressions in relationships that are characterized by high satisfaction, closeness, and commitment (Fincham, 2000; Fincham & Beach, 2002; Fincham, Paleari, & Regalia, 2002; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Studies that examine various negative interpersonal situations such as jealousy (Bevan, 2011; Bevan & Hale, 2006), forgiveness (McCullough et al., 1998; McCullough et al., 2007), and relationship dissolution (Collins & Clark, 1989) have consistently observed a positive relationship between…”

“Leader’s reconciliation, defined as the leader’s efforts to extend acts of goodwill toward the abused follower in the hope of restoring the relationship, helps to deescalate existing conflict and secure future cooperation (McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Desire for revenge against perpetrators of KR era atrocities was measured with the 5-item revenge subscale of the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivation Scale.”

“On the other hand, when individuals are unable or unwilling to forgive their partners, they may be motivated to fight (by using distributive communication) or flee (by using de-escalation) as McCullough et al. (1998) theorized.”

“” Retaliation intentions were measured with McCullough et al.’s (1998) 5-item scale focusing on retaliation toward their previous manager.”

“…been associated with a greater likelihood of forgiveness and a reduced likelihood of revenge (Exline, Baumeister, Bushman, Campbell, & Finkel, 2004; McCullough et al., 1998). ª 2010 The Authors Social and Personality Psychology Compass 4/12 (2010): 1193–1205, 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00322.x…”

“In contrast, for major acts (e.g., a true betrayal in a marriage or friendship), a person might presume that close ties will respond more strongly than weak ties because their deep trust has been violated (McCullough et al. 1998; Moreland and McMinn 1999).”

“In addition, similar measures of forgiveness also have been used to assess forgiveness effectively in recent published studies (e.g., Boon & Sulsky, 1997; Schlenker & Darby, 1982; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“” Forgiveness-related reactions were assessed with an adapted version of the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (McCullough et al., 1998).”

“…power may increase commitment to a relationship, which in turn would influence forgiveness.2 Low levels of forgiveness may result in weaker commitment (e.g., Karremans & Van Lange, 2008; McCullough et al., 1998), or low forgiveness may result in lower levels of power (cf. Shnabel & Nadler, 2008).”

“Our second hypothesis is based on findings by Girard and Mullet (1997; Mullet & Girard, 2000) and others (e.g., Gauché & Mullet, 2005; McCullough et al., 1998) that people are more willing to forgive socially close partners, because forgiveness could be the best way to restore good relations with…”

“…transgression exhibit greater hostility and aggressiveness toward others (Bushman, Bonacci, Pedersen, Vasquez, & Miller, 2005; Collins & Bell, 1997; McCullough, Bellah, Kilpatrick, & Johnson, 2001; McCullough et al., 1998), which may further impair their ability to elicit social support.”

“Previous studies have found that empathy does mediate the relationship between predictor variables such as offender responses (apology, compensation) and forgiveness ( McCullough et al., 1997, 1998; Ristovksi & Wertheim, 2005).”

“Other studies suggest that trait vengefulness (or the tendency to be unforgiving) is associated with an increase in maladaptive, avoidance-based relationship behaviors (McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Dependent Measures Questionnaires Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Previous research has found the TRIM to possess good convergent and discriminant validity (McCullough, Bellah, Kilpatrick, & Johnson, 2001; McCullough, Emmons, Kilpatrick, & Mooney, 2003; McCullough, Fincham, & Tsang, 2003; McCullough & Hoyt, 2002; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Of the many aspects of relationships that could contribute to forgiveness dynamics, two qualities that have been widely researched are the trust that relationship partners place in one another, and their commitment to maintaining the relationship (e.g., Finkel et al., 2002; McCullough et al., 1998; Rempel, Ross, & Hol…”

“…consistent with data reported in a study of victims of a natural disaster (Goenjian et al., 2001) and with studies of reactions to less severe transgressions in social relationships using the intrusion subscale of the IES (McCullough, Bellah, Kilpatrick, & Johnson, 2001; McCullough et al., 1998).”

“Kumashiro, & Hannon, 2002; McCullough et al., 1998; Slotter & Finkel, Chapter 2, this”

“Rationale: • Research supports the importance of apology for increasing victims’ capacity to forgive (McCullough et al. 1998), which is important because forgiveness has been linked to improved mental and physical health across numerous populations (Berry and Worthington 2001; Maltby et al. 2001;…”

“For example, in their social-psychological model of determinants of forgiveness, McCullough et al. (1998) describe and classify different factors based on how proximal or distal they are to forgiveness.”

“The usual finding is that gender plays a very limited role (Girard & Mullet, 1997; McCullough et al., 1998; McCullough, Worthington, & Rachal, 1997; Mullet, Houdbine, Laumonier, & Girard, 1998).”

“While some were developed to measure nondispositional forgiveness (e.g., Hargrave & Sells, 1997; McCullough et al., 1998; Subkoviak et al., 1995; Pollard, Anderson, Anderson, & Jennings, 1998), some were developed to assess dispositional forgiveness in order to measure individual’s tendency to…”