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Researchers commonly conceptualize forgiveness as a rich complex of psychological changes involving attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. Psychometric work with the measures developed to capture this conceptual richness, however, often points to a simpler picture of the psychological dimensions in which forgiveness takes place. In an effort to better unite forgiveness theory and measurement, we evaluate several psychometric models for common measures of forgiveness. In doing so, we study people from the United States and Japan to understand forgiveness in both non-close and close relationships. In addition, we assess the predictive utility of these models for several behavioral outcomes that traditionally have been linked to forgiveness motives. Finally, we employ the methods of item response theory, which place person abilities and item responses on the same metric and thus help us draw psychological inferences from the ordering of item difficulties. Our results highlight models based on correlated factors models and bifactor (S-1) models. The bifactor (S-1) model evinced particular utility: Its general factor consistently predicts variation in relevant criterion measures, including four different experimental economic games (when played with a transgressor), and also suffuses a second self-report measure of forgiveness. Moreover, the general factor of the bifactor (S-1) model identifies a single psychological dimension that runs from hostility to friendliness while also pointing to other sources of variance that may be conceived of as method factors. Taken together, these results suggest that forgiveness can be usefully conceptualized as prosocial change along a single attitudinal continuum that ranges from hostility to friendliness.

Objective Involving caregivers in trauma-focused treatments for youth has been shown to result in better outcomes, but it is not clear which in-session caregiver behaviors enhance or inhibit this effect. The current study examined the associations between caregiver behaviors during Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and youth cognitive processes and symptoms. Method Participants were a racially diverse sample of Medicaid-eligible youth (ages 7–17) and their non-offending caregivers (N= 71 pairs) who received TF-CBT through an effectiveness study in a community setting. Caregiver and youth processes were coded from audio-recorded sessions, and outcomes were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV (UPID) at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post-intake. Results Piecewise linear growth curve modeling revealed that during the trauma narrative phase of TF-CBT, caregivers’ cognitive-emotional processing of their own and their child's trauma-related reactions predicted decreases in youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms over treatment. Caregiver support predicted lower internalizing symptoms over follow-up. In contrast, caregiver avoidance and blame of the child predicted worsening of youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms over follow-up. Caregiver avoidance early in treatment also predicted worsening of externalizing symptoms over follow-up. During the narrative phase, caregiver blame and avoidance were correlated with more child overgeneralization of trauma beliefs, and blame was also associated with less child accommodation of balanced beliefs. Conclusions The association between in-session caregiver behaviors and youth symptomatology during and after TF-CBT highlights the importance of assessing and targeting these behaviors to improve clinical outcomes.

Daily communications between the ICU trauma patients’ families and the trauma team are often limited due to the unpredictable nature of subsequent patient admissions and operative procedures. In order to improve the lines of family-physician communication and educate residents regarding family communication, our level I trauma center instituted daily “Family Rounds” (FR). FR occur at the same time every day, in the patient's ICU room. The purpose of this study was to determine whether families valued the scheduled daily FR, to establish whether FR improved the family-physician relationship, and to delineate strengths and weaknesses of the present structure of our FR. We mailed surveys to family members of trauma patients hospitalized in the trauma ICU for ≥3 days. A total of 55 (22%) families responded. Combining “excellent” and “good” responses, 86.5 per cent of families looked forward to having a specific time of day to meet with the trauma team, and 90 per cent liked having rounds in the ICU room with the patient. However, 36 per cent did not like having only scheduled time for FR. The majority, 75 per cent, believed that all concerns were addressed during FR, and 84.9 per cent rated their overall experience as either excellent or good. Scheduled FR appear to improve communication between trauma surgeons and patients’ families, enhance the family-physician relationship, and strengthen our surgical residency teaching program.

Three autobiographical studies tested the valuable relationships hypothesis of forgiveness. Although previous studies revealed that relationship value predicts interpersonal forgiveness, the measure of relationship value may be conflated with affective assessments of the relationship with the transgressor, which might have caused a criterion contamination problem. Therefore, we assessed the goal-related instrumentality of the transgressor (i.e., how useful the transgressor is for helping the victim to achieve his/her goals in fitness-relevant domains). Three studies, one involving a Japanese student sample (Study 1), a second involving Japanese community sample (Study 2), and a third involving U.S. community sample (Study 3), convergently showed that perceived goal instrumentality, as well as a latent relationship value variable estimated from multiple measures of relationship value, are associated with forgiveness. Moreover, this association could be explained in part by the intermediate association of perceived goal instrumentality with empathy both in Japan and the U.S.

Although there is substantial evidence to support the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatments (CBT) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is some debate about how these treatments have their effects. Modern learning theory and cognitive and emotional processing theories highlight the importance of reducing avoidance, facilitating the constructive processing of feared experiences, and strengthening new inhibitory learning. We examined variables thought to be associated with unproductive and constructive processing of traumatic experiences in a sample of 81 youth with elevated PTSD symptoms, who received Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for abuse or traumatic interpersonal loss. Sessions during the trauma narrative phase of TF-CBT were coded for indicators of unproductive processing (overgeneralization, rumination, avoidance) and constructive processing (decentering, accommodation of corrective information), as well as levels of negative emotion. In previous analyses of this trial (Ready et al., 2015), more overgeneralization during the narrative phase predicted less improvement in internalizing symptoms at posttreatment and a worsening of externalizing symptoms over the 12-month follow-up. In contrast, more accommodation predicted improvement in internalizing symptoms and also moderated the negative effects of overgeneralization on internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The current study examined correlates of overgeneralization and accommodation. Overgeneralization was associated with more rumination, less decentering, and more negative emotion, suggesting immersion in trauma-related material. Accommodation was Please address correspondence to Adele Hayes, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA. ahayes@udel.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Conflict of Interest No conflicts of interest HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript associated with less avoidance and more decentering, suggesting a healthy distance from traumarelated material that might allow for processing and cognitive change. Decentering also predicted improvement in externalizing symptoms at posttreatment. Rumination and avoidance showed important associations with overgeneralization and accommodation, respectively, but did not predict treatment outcomes. This study identifies correlates of overgeneralization and accommodation that might shed light on how these variables relate to unproductive and constructive processing of traumatic experiences. Key...

Frequently, researchers in psychology are faced with the challenge of narrowing down a large set of predictors to a smaller subset. There are a variety of ways to do this, but commonly it is done by choosing predictors with the strongest bivariate correlations with the outcome. However, when predictors are correlated, bivariate relationships may not translate into multivariate relationships. Further, any attempts to control for multiple testing are likely to result in extremely low power. Here we introduce a Bayesian variable-selection procedure frequently used in other disciplines, stochastic search variable selection (SSVS). We apply this technique to choosing the best set of predictors of the perceived unpleasantness of an experimental pain stimulus from among a large group of sociocultural, psychological, and neurobiological (functional MRI) individual-difference measures. Using SSVS provides information about which variables predict the outcome, controlling for uncertainty in the other variables of the model. This approach yields new, useful information to guide the choice of relevant predictors. We have provided Web-based open-source software for performing SSVS and visualizing the results.

Recent theorizing suggests that religious people’s moral convictions are quite strategic (albeit unconsciously so), designed to make their worlds more amenable to their favored approaches to solving life’s basic challenges. In a meta-analysis of 5 experiments and a preregistered replication, we find that religious identity places a sex premium on moral judgments, causing people to judge violations of conventional sexual morality as particularly objectionable. The sex premium is especially strong among highly religious people, and applies to both legal and illegal acts. Religion’s influence on moral reasoning emphasizes conventional sexual norms, and may reflect the strategic projects to which religion has been applied throughout history.