Do we forgive physical aggression in the same way that we forgive psychological aggression?

Abstract

The present study examined variations in the impact of social proximity, apologies, intent to harm, cancellation of consequences, and attitude of others on the willingness to forgive an aggressor as a function of the type of aggression-physical aggression or psychological aggression. The participants were instructed to express their willingness to forgive in two contexts-physical aggression and psychological aggression-which constituted a within-subject factor. Five sets of scenarios corresponding to the five between-subject factors (from social proximity to intent to harm) were used. Participants were 215 adults aged 17-60 years. As hypothesized, the cancellation of the consequences had less impact, and the apologies and the intent to harm had more impact, on the willingness to forgive in the case of physical aggression than in the case of psychological aggression. This result was a robust one; it did not depend on the participant's gender and age. Aggr. Behav. 31:559-570, 2005. r

Development of the Forgiveness Schema in Adolescence

“…Overall, the effect of the cancellation factor was strong (and strongest as compared to other effects). This finding is coherent with previous findings observed among adults in Western cultures (Gauché & Mullet, 2005;Girard & Mullet, 1997;Mullet et al, 2007) as well as in non-Western cultures (Ahmed, Azar & Mullet, 2007;Azar, Mullet & Vinsonneau, 1999).…”

“…As compared with the other effects, it was the second strongest factor. This finding is consistent with previous findings observed among adults in Western cultures (Gauché & Mullet, 2005;Girard & Mullet, 1997;Mullet et al, 2007) as well as in non-Western cultures (Ahmed et al, 2007;Azar et al, 1999). This finding is also consistent with findings by Coleman and Byrd (2003) showing a strong link among 7 th and 8 th graders between self-reported intentional harm from others and interpersonal forgiveness.…”

Mapping Positions on Forgiving an Aggressor in Sport

“…That is coherent with psychology research in which (i) females were more likely to forgive than males, and (ii) the relationship between sex and forgiveness was explained by empathy (e.g., Toussaint and Webb, 2005). However, our result conflicts with other studies of the effect of sex on forgiveness in sport (Gauché and Mullet, 2005).…”

Effect of Context and Personality on the Forgiveness Schema

“…This is what was observed, and this result was apparently a robust one; it did not depend on the participant's gender or age. This finding fully replicates previous findings by Gauché and Mullet (2005). The second hypothesis was that the apologies and intent factors would have more impact, and that the cancellation of consequences factor would have less impact, in the gossiping at work condition than in the breaking of love condition.…”