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Not so innocent: Does seeing one's own capability for wrongdoing predict forgiveness?
Abstract
People are more forgiving toward transgressors if they see themselves as capable of committing similar offenses, as demonstrated in 7 studies. Methods included hypothetical scenarios, actual recalled offenses, individual and group processes, and correlational and experimental designs. Three factors mediated the link between personal capability and forgiveness: seeing the other's offense as less severe, greater empathic understanding, and perceiving oneself as similar to the transgressor. In terms of predicting forgiveness, it was important that people's own offenses were similar to the target offense in terms of both severity and type. The personal capability effect was independent of other established predictors of forgiveness and was more pronounced among men than women.
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“Experimental results link self-compassion with forgiveness. That is, people asked to purposefully look for similarities between themselves and transgressors were more likely to be forgiving than others who did not do so (Exline et al., 2008).”
From Gratitude and forgiveness: convergence and divergence on self-report and informant ratings. (2010) · cites this paper as Exline et al., 2008
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“Moreover, victims have been found to be more likely to forgive when they considered themselves capable of committing a similar offense ( Exline, Baumeister, Zell, Kraft, & Witvliet, 2008 ; Exline, Zell, Malcolm, DeCourville, & Belicki, 2008 ).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Exline, J. J., Baumeister, R. F., Zell, A. L., Kraft, A. J., & Witvliet, C. V. O.
- Affiliations
- Case Western Reserve University (US)
- Florida State University (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Hope College (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2008-03
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 495-515
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2035114357
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 16.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Forgiveness and Related Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- forgiveness, transgressors, perceived similarity, empathy, gender differences, self-perception, interpersonal transgressions
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anger, Attitude, Empathy, Female, Group Processes, Guilt, Humans, Individuality, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Motivation, Mental Recall, Sex Factors, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Students
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