How acts of forgiveness restore a sense of justice: Addressing status/power and value concerns raised by transgressions

Abstract

Commonly it is understood that forgiveness means sacrificing justice. However, the present study shows that the act of forgiving can increase a sense of justice, which in turn facilitates benevolent sentiments towards the offender. University students (N ¼ 88) imagined themselves as victims and, after the offender either did or did not offer an apology, they either were or were not instructed to express their forgiveness to the offender (via an email). Results showed that, irrespective of apology, the expression of forgiveness led to a greater sense of justice in victims, mediated via feelings of status/power and the perception of a value consensus with the offender. The feeling of justice further mediated the effects of the forgiveness expression in terms of reducing hostile emotions, revenge motivation and retributive attitudes, as well as increasing the willingness to reconcile with the offender.

Dehumanization, Retributive and Restorative Justice, and Aggressive Versus Diplomatic Intergroup Conflict Resolution Strategies

“…Sentience might also be affected by these other factors, the relationship being bidirectional rather than unidirectional. Recent research has shown that expressions of forgiveness, for instance, lead to a greater sense of justice in people (Wenzel & Okimoto, 2010).…”

Offer and Acceptance of Apology in Victim-Offender Mediation

“…Forgiveness may also be difficult if the victim cannot empathise with the offender, lets his/her ego get in the way or wants to maintain the moral high ground (Blecher, 2011). Given the beneficial effects that the offer of forgiveness can have on victims' sense of justice (see Wenzel & Okimoto, 2010) and offenders' reduction in reoffending (Wallace et al, 2008), as well as the detrimental effects that lack of forgiveness can have on offenders' regret in apologising (Exline, Deshea, & Holeman, 2007), it may be worth considering how this response to apology can be facilitated in the RJ process. McCullough, Worthington and Rachal (1997) have demonstrated that forgiveness can be promoted through interventions that induce empathy (see also Takaku, 2001).…”

To pay or to apologize? On the psychology of dealing with unfair offers in a dictator game

“…Second, both strategies of financial compensations and apologies are attempts to make up for an unfair offer -i.e., transform an injust situation into a just one (cf. Wenzel & Okimoto, 2010) -that could either involve losses or gains. In a way these efforts thus relate to what has been referred to as corrective justice (French, 1964, p. 412), which includes a focus on losses and gains as it is defined as a way of seeking ''to remedy mistakes in the allocation of rewards and penalties".…”