When Forgiveness Signals Power: Effects of Forgiveness Expression and Forgiver Gender

Abstract

Forgiveness has been regarded as a sign of power, yet empirical evidence is mixed. This research seeks to resolve this inconsistency by looking into how and from whom forgiveness is expressed. Integrating theories on forgiveness, communication, and gender role, we hypothesized and found, in two experiments, that a third party's perception of forgiver power is jointly influenced by forgiveness expression (explicit vs. implicit) and forgiver gender. Female forgivers were perceived as less powerful than their male counterparts when forgivers expressed implicit forgiveness, whereas this gender difference was not found when forgivers expressed explicit forgiveness. Perceived forgiver power, in turn, positively influenced third parties' cooperation with the forgiver in subsequent interaction. This research represents an initial step to understanding forgiveness from a communication perspective. It demonstrates the social implications of forgiveness on uninvolved third parties. Our findings also resonate with several others in showing that forgiveness does not always yield interpersonal benefits.

On Attenuated Interactions, Measurement Error, and Statistical Power: Guidelines for Social and Personality Psychologists

“…Of the nine papers exclusively reporting studies with sample sizes less than 781, seven calculated a priori power analyses. Of these, four studies estimated power based on effect sizes calculated on a small pilot study ( r = .26; Wang & Ackerman, 2019), or effect sizes that were presumed to be medium to large ( r = .32; Carrier et al, 2019), medium ( r = .25; Yao & Chao, 2019), or small to medium ( r = .24; Martin et al, 2019). As these assumed interaction effect sizes imply true simple effects in an effect-present condition that is double the assumed interaction effect size (i.e., r = .40–.64), the hypothesized interaction effect sizes were overly optimistic.…”

A Winding Road to Peace Building: Longitudinal Outcomes of a Peace Intervention for Survivors and Génocidaires of the1994 Genocide Against the Tutsiin Rwanda

“…Previous studies also emphasized the importance of "symmetrical contact" characterized by equal and evenly shared power between participants when they pursued a common goal (Maoz, 2004). In our study, survivors in the dyad arguably wielded more power than g enocidaires because they could extend or withhold forgiveness of their direct perpetrator (Karremans & Smith, 2010;Yao & Chao, 2019). Does such a power imbalance, albeit slight, influence how survivors and g enocidaires interact with each other (Barnes-Ceeney, Gideon, Leitch, & Yashuhara, 2019)?…”

Feeling Bad and Doing Good

“…Accordingly, being attentive to the retaliatory or forgiving capability of others might be advantageous for third parties (dos Santos, Rankin, & Wedekind, 2011). Recent work has already begun to examine what forgiveness signals to uninvolved observers (Yao & Chao, 2019); future work might contrast how offenders’ post-transgression actions influence third-party perceptions of forgiving and unforgiving victims. In addition, future research should address how forgivability may be influenced by the degree and type of actions aimed at atonement as well as offenders’ motives for atonement.…”