How Does Culture Shape Conceptions of Forgiveness? Evidence From Japan and the United States

Abstract

Theories of culture, cognition, and social relations suggest there may be differences in conceptions of forgiveness between the members of East Asian and Western cultures, but few researchers have examined this issue. This article builds on previous research on prototypes of forgiveness in the United States to address the question "What is forgiveness?" in Japan. In Studies 1a and 1b, we investigated Japanese conceptions of forgiveness. Study 2 demonstrated that forgiveness features that U.S. and Japanese participants generated are meaningfully different. Compared with Americans, Japanese participants focused more on aspects related to relationship harmony; they seemed to emphasize an adjustment motive and decisional forgiveness. They also put less emphasis on emotional forgiveness and attention to individuals in comparison with Americans. Our results suggest that the high value placed on relationship maintenance in Japan leads to different understandings of forgiveness. Inclusion of culturally diverse conceptions into the definition of forgiveness aids further understanding of forgiveness, which, in turn, enhances the development and application of existing theories.

Perceived responsiveness across cultures: The role of cultural fit in social support use

“…There is some evidence for cultural differences in perceived responsiveness in a variety of positive social interactions. For example, American participants tend to enact explicit positive relationship behaviors-such as expressing gratitude, sharing positive news, and forgiving others-more than East Asian participants, and tend to be motivated by self-related goals, whereas East Asian participants tend to enact these behaviors more implicitly and are motivated to promote relational harmony (Chang & Algoe, 2019;Choi et al, 2019;Joo et al, 2019). Cultural fit may also impact perceived responsiveness in more conflictual social interactions.…”

Gender and age differences in forgivingness in Italian and Polish samples

“…This is primarily because empirical research regarding gender and age variations in forgiveness has been mostly undertaken in the United States and very few studies have been conducted in non-US samples. Meanwhile historical background, social norms, changing economic and political conditions may shape different conceptualizations of forgiveness ( Balkin et al., 2009 ; Hui et al., 2006 ; Joo et al., 2019 ; Kadima Kadiangandu et al., 2007 ; Paz et al., 2008 ), leading motives ( Huwaë and Schaafsma, 2019 ) and varying experiences of forgiveness ( Cowden et al., 2019 ; Suwartono et al., 2007 ; Záhorcová and Zelenáková, 2021 ) among males and females at subsequent stages of life in different countries. Mixed findings might be related to culture, and studies on samples beyond the US may provide evidence whether gender and age differences in forgiveness are universal or culture-specific.…”

“…While in the individualistic culture forgiveness is understood as an intra-personal process, in the collectivistic culture it is mainly seen as an interpersonal construct ( Kadima Kadiangandu et al., 2007 . For instance, the Chinese perceive forgiveness as focused on bringing social benefits ( Hui et al., 2006 ), and the Japanese as focused on relationship harmony, adjustment motives and decisional forgiveness ( Joo et al., 2019 ). The Jewish perspective provides an original conceptualization of forgiveness of debt, called mechila ( Balkin et al., 2009 ).…”

Forgiveness as a Mediator between Psychological Suzhi and Prosocial Behavior in Chinese Adolescents

“…Forgiveness is a process of motivational transformation in which an individual transforms negative emotions (e.g., anger and hatred) into sympathy and love for the offender [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. However, forgiveness has specific cultural differences [ 29 , 30 ]. Collective culture attaches more importance to harmony between people.…”