Psychology Commons^™

Self-Forgiveness In Romantic Relationships: The Impact On The Perpetrator And The Relationship, Jaclyn M. Moloney

Theses and Dissertations

Two studies were conducted to determine how self-forgiveness and other perpetrator reactions influence the perpetrator and the victim after a romantic relationship transgression. Study 1 used a longitudinal design to determine how guilt and shame predicted the trajectory of self-forgiveness, self-excusing, and self-punishing in participants who had recently been the perpetrator of a romantic relationship transgression.

Those experiencing higher guilt at baseline had higher self-forgiveness starting out and those lower on guilt starting out had a greater change in self-forgiveness. Those experiencing more guilt at baseline experienced less change in self-forgiveness over time. Shame was not significantly related to self-forgiveness …

Development Of A Two-Factor Self-Forgiveness Scale, Brandon J. Griffin

Theses and Dissertations

Notwithstanding progress made in description, prediction, and manipulation of self-forgiveness, the extant literature continues to be wrought with theoretical and empirical quandaries. In the current dissertation, I conceptualize self-forgiveness within the framework of Social Cognitive Theory and develop a two-factor scale to assess distinct decisional and emotional aspects of self-forgiveness among perpetrators of interpersonal transgressions. In Study One, I test the hypothesized two-factor structure in a new measure of state self-forgiveness and provide preliminary evidence supporting construct validity via associations of that measure with perceived responsibility, guilt, and shame. In Study Two, I replicate the factor structure and provide preliminary …

The Transition To Parenthood: The Role Of Humility, Gratitude And Forgiveness, Charlene M. Gaw, Elisabeth Alison, Azza Hussein

Undergraduate Research Posters

The transition to parenthood, while an exciting time to celebrate the life of their child, causes parents to face new challenges such as physical exhaustion (Petch & Halford, 2008), role overload (Perry-Jenkins, Goldberg, Pierce, & Sayer, 2007), and less time for themselves and their partners (Feeney, Hohaus, Noller, & Alexander, 2001). Today in the United States, 85% of women and 76% of men will have parented a child by the time they are forty (Roy, Schumm, & Britt, 2014), making this an important developmental transition to examine. Humility has been found to have numerous social benefits, among them the initiation …

Efficacy Of A Workbook To Promote Forgiveness: A Randomized Controlled Trial With University Students, Quandrea Harper, Everett L. Worthington, Brandon J. Griffin, Caroline R. Lavelock, Joshua N. Hook, Scott Vrana, Chelsea Greer

Psychology Publications

Objective

The present study investigated the efficacy of a 6-hour self-directed workbook adapted from the REACH Forgiveness intervention.

Method

Undergraduates (N = 41) were randomly assigned to either an immediate treatment or waitlist control condition. Participants were assessed across 3 time periods using a variety of forgiveness outcome measures.

Results

The 6-hour workbook intervention increased forgiveness, as indicated by positive changes in participants’ forgiveness ratings that differed by condition. In addition, benchmarking analysis showed that the self-directed workbook intervention is at least as efficacious as the delivery of the REACH Forgiveness model via group therapy.

Conclusion

A self-directed workbook …

Efficacy Of Reach Forgiveness Across Cultures, Yin Lin, Everett L. Worthington, Brandon J. Griffin, Chelsea L. Greer, Annabella Opare-Henaku, Caroline R. Lavelock, Joshua N. Hook, Man Yee Ho, Holly Muller

Psychology Publications

Across cultures, most people agree that forgiveness is a virtue. However, culture may influence how willing one should be to forgive and how one might express forgiveness. At a university in the United States, we recruited both foreign-extraction students and domestic students (N = 102) to participate in a six-hour REACH Forgiveness intervention. We investigated the efficacy of the intervention overall as well as whether foreign-extraction and domestic students responded differently to treatment. Forgiveness was assessed using two measures—decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness. The six-hour REACH Forgiveness intervention improved participants’ ratings of emotional forgiveness, but not decisional forgiveness, regardless of …

Forgiveness Of In-Group Offenders In Christian Congregations, Chelsea L. Greer, Everett L. Worthington, Daryl R. Van Tongeren, Aubrey L. Gartner, David J. Jennings, Yin Lin, Caroline R. Lavelock, Todd W. Greer, Man Yee Ho

Psychology Publications

Religious communities, like other communities, are ripe for interpersonal offenses. We examined the degree to which group identification predicted forgiveness of an in-group offender. We examined the effects of a victim’s perception of his or her religious group identification as a state-specific personal variable on forgiveness by integrating Social Identity Theory into a model of Relational Spirituality (Davis, Hook, & Worthington, 2008) to help explain victim’s responses to transgressions within a religious context. Data were collected from members of Christian congregations from the mid-west region of the United States (Study 1, N = 63), and college students belonging to Christian …

A Workbook To Promote Forgiveness For Ingroup Congregational Offenses, Chelsea Greer

Theses and Dissertations

Since research on forgiveness has flourished over the past three decades, multiple interventions have been developed to aid individuals in this arduous process. Two interventions in particular have been most-widely studied with diverse groups: Enright’s process model (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000) and Worthington’s REACH Forgiveness model (2006). Thus far, these forgiveness interventions have been led by trained professionals in an in-person group. In-person interventions pose issues of cost and attendance. In the current study, I adapted Worthington’s Christian-adapted REACH Forgiveness intervention into a self-directed workbook for Christians who have experienced an offense within a religious community. Participants (N = 52) …

Efficacy Of Reach Forgiveness For Foreign And Virginia Students, Yin Lin

Theses and Dissertations

People agree that forgiveness is a virtue in essentially all countries. However, different cultures have different ideas about how willing one should forgive and under what circumstances. Although the study occurred in the USA, I recruited both foreign-extraction and Virginia born-and-raised female college students (N=102) to participate a six-hour REACH forgiveness intervention, promoting their forgiveness through psychoeducational groups. In my thesis, I investigated whether students of foreign extraction and Virginia-born students would respond similarly to the intervention. I operationalized culture in two ways—by country and by individual self-reported self-construal. I measured forgiveness using two measures—decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness. I …

Violations Of The Divine: Forgiveness Of Ingroup Transgressors Within Church Congregations Of The Christian Faith, Chelsea Greer

Theses and Dissertations

Research on forgiveness has been expanding rapidly in the last decade with a subset of studies looking at how religious people forgive. A discrepancy persists between Christians’ level of valuing forgiveness and forgiveness of actual transgressions. Several methodological issues and offense-specific variables have been presented as explanations. This present thesis examines the role of the congregation as a group identity, and applies it to a theory of relational spirituality, as a measure of the relationship between a victim and the Sacred. No existing research has polled congregants about offense-specific forgiveness of church peers. I collected data from members of Christian …

Relational Humility, Don Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The study of humility has progressed slowly due to lack of theory and measurement issues. In the present dissertation, I review the literature on humility and propose a theory of relational humility. The model conceptualizes humility as a personality judgment, aligning its study with a large literature that spans social and personality psychology. Then, in four studies, I examined initial evidence for the theoretical model. In Study 1 (N=300), I created the Relational Humility Scale (RHS) and evaluated its items using exploratory factor analysis. The RHS was found to have 3 subscales: Global Humility, Superiority, and Accurate View of Self. …

The Transgressor's Response To A Rejected Request For Forgiveness, David Jennings

Theses and Dissertations

Although the scientific study of forgiveness has flourished in recent years, little is known about transgressors when seeking forgiveness, particularly regarding how they respond when their request for forgiveness is denied. The present thesis reviews the literature related to how transgressors might react to a denied request for forgiveness and factors that likely influence their response. In two studies, interactions between sex and responses to requested forgiveness, and interactions between two personality variables (agreeableness and neuroticism) and responses to requested forgiveness were examined. Generally, when people refuse or even partially refuse a bid for forgiveness, it is considered by the …

Forgiveness, Individualism, And Collectivism, Joshua N. Hook

Theses and Dissertations

Although the scientific study of forgiveness has flourished in recent years, the study of the effects of culture on forgiveness has been minimal. The present thesis reviews the literature examining the effects of individualism and collectivism on forgiveness. In Study 1, four scales are created that are hypothesized to relate to the study of culture and forgiveness. Evidence for the reliability and validity of these scales are presented. In Study 2, the effects of individualism and collectivism are empirically tested. Collectivistic forgivers understand forgiveness within the context of reconciliation, social harmony, and relational repair. Collectivistic forgiveness primarily involves a decision …