Comparing Compassionate Love and Empathy as Predictors of Transgression-General and Transgression-Specific Forgiveness

Abstract

For Christians, forgiveness is exhibiting Christlike love even when it seems impossible for the amount pain that the other has caused in the forgiver. However, empirical studies on the relationships between other-focused love and forgiveness are scarce. In this study, we explored the relationships between other-focused love, empathy, and forgiveness among Christian college students. Using the data from 263 students from a large private Christian university in Central Virginia, bivariate correlations between two types of forgiveness, compassionate love, and empathy were computed, and the contribution of demographic variables, compassionate love, and empathy to the prediction of transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness was examined using three-block multiple regression analyses. Compassionate love had significant positive associations with both transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness, and compassionate love predicted both types of forgiveness after controlling for age, gender, and empathy.

The Development of Forgiveness and Other-Focused Love

“…As pointed out by Kim et al (2020), it is time to extend forgiveness interventions with adults to not only focus on psychological healing of the unjustly treated but also to investigate the development of other-focused love. The evidence from this study, together with findings from other empirical studies (Kim et al, 2020, 2021), have only begun to examine the development and relationship between forgiveness and love. Further research needs to be done to document in what ways one’s practice of forgiveness results in greater love toward others.…”

“…In the context of romantic relationships, forgiveness was positively correlated with agape love in a sample of 60 moral exemplars (Oliner, 2005). Compassionate love is related to forgiveness as they both have the right motivation (one's goodwill), which is expressed in emotion, cognition, and behavior (Kim et al, 2020(Kim et al, , 2021. The two differences are, first, forgiveness is only limited to offenders while compassionate love is expressed to all humankind (Oman, 2011); second, those with compassionate love do not necessarily have to suffer, but those who forgive others for grave offenses often do suffer.…”

“…other empirical studies (Kim et al, 2020(Kim et al, , 2021, have only begun to examine the development and relationship between forgiveness and love. Further research needs to be done to document in what ways one's practice of forgiveness results in greater love toward others.…”

“…It was found that the degree of valuing warmth-based traits (generosity, compassion, and love) is highly associated with forgiveness in crime victims (or are friends or family members of victims); in comparison, perceived justice and empathy are not significantly associated with forgiveness (Berry et al, 2005). In fact, compassionate love was found to predict forgiveness above and beyond trait empathy (Kim et al, 2021). In addition, compassionate love, as a predictor for dispositional forgiveness, predicts over and above all the other measures, including emotional distress (anger, anxiety, and depression), and subjective wellbeing (Kim et al, 2020).…”

“…As Kim et al (2020) showed, compassionate love was significantly associated with dispositional forgiveness. Compassionate love also has been found in both transgression-specific forgiveness and transgression-general forgiveness (Kim et al, 2021). Our aim here is to further explore this relationship between forgiveness and love by examining whether love and forgiveness develop together and also by exploring the temporal order between compassionate love and forgiveness.…”