The Development of Forgiveness

Abstract

The psychology of forgiveness originated from the creative and important work on the development of justice initiated by Piaget in 1932 and extended by Kohlberg in 1969. The scientific study of forgiveness is quite new, having emerged in print in 1989, with an examination of the developmental progression in children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ thinking about the necessary conditions for them to offer forgiveness to another person. In this chapter, the authors first review the definition of forgiveness, followed by this early cognitive work. They then turn to a discussion of the measurement of forgiveness correlates of forgiveness. The practical application of this construct is seen in the development of forgiveness therapy and forgiveness education, which the authors discuss in light of the empirical findings. Future directions for forgiveness studies are considered.

Rehumanizing the self after victimization: The roles of forgiveness versus revenge.

“…Forgiveness is considered a moral response rooted in the virtues of mercy, unconditional love, and generosity (Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000; Gassin, 1998). Because of its prosocial nature, forgiveness is treated as morally superior to a strict adherence to justice (Enright, 1991). Empirically, forgiveness is associated with prosocial intentions (Karremans et al, 2005) and a variety of prosocial dispositions, such as empathy, tolerance, and low narcissism (Rusbult et al, 2005).…”

“…As noted in the introduction, we reasoned that people would infer their sense of humanity upon observing their own moral behavior (Bastian et al, 2013; Bem, 1972). People perceive morality as a fundamental human value (Bastian et al, 2011; Brandt & Reyna, 2011; Haslam et al, 2012; Schwartz, 1994), and forgiveness is considered a prosocial response that is morally superior to taking revenge (Enright, 1991; Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2000; Gassin, 1998). We therefore predicted that people would perceive an act of forgiveness as consistent with moral values, which would in turn be associated with feelings of humanness.…”

The Relationship of Forgiveness and Values with Meaning in Life of Polish Students

“…The third category of forgiveness includes models based on the concept of human moral development according to Kohlberg (1976). They suggest that the individual during the development process increases his or her cognitive abilities with age, becomes more open and able to accept the other person’s perspective, empathizes more with the weakness, deficiencies, and difficult life situation, and is therefore more able to understand and accept a person from whom he has suffered in the past (Enright 1991). The fourth group of models are typologies of forgiveness, studies based on the characteristics that differentiate them.…”

A philosophical and psychological examination of “justice first”: Toward the need for both justice and forgiveness when conflict arises.

“…When it is time for group-to-group forgiveness, this can start by (a) discussing and valuing forgiveness within the community, (b) developing norms that both justice and forgiveness are valuable within the community with an openness to these across communities, (c) verbally proclaiming intentions to work toward forgiveness across the communities, and (d) developing forgiveness education programs and encouraging other communities to strengthen children’s and adolescents’ knowledge of forgiveness so that they can make informed choices about this virtue when they are adults (Enright et al, 2016). There are forgiveness curriculum guides developed for students from age 4 through age 18, and these have been empirically verified to reduce anger and to improve academic achievement (see Enright & Fitzgibbons, 2015; Enright & Song, 2017).…”