"Letting myself go forward past wrongs": How regulatory modes affect self-forgiveness

Abstract

The present research addresses the question of whether regulatory-mode orientations affect self-forgiveness. We expected that people with a strong locomotion orientation would be more inclined to self-forgiveness because of their tendencies toward movement and change, which focus them on the future, whereas people with a strong assessment orientation would refrain from self-forgiveness due to their evaluative tendencies which focus them on the past. These hypotheses were supported by the results in four studies that tested the relation between regulatory modes and self-forgiveness by measuring (Studies 1, 3 and 4) and manipulating (Study 2) regulatory-mode-orientations. Finally, in Study 4 we examined more closely our hypothesis that the relation between self-forgiveness and regulatory modes is mediated by past and future temporal foci. The implications of the results for regulatory mode theory are also discussed.

The consequences of (not) seeing eye‐to‐eye about the past: The role of supervisor–team fit in past temporal focus for supervisors' leadership behavior

“…Similarly, we anticipate that a supervisor will exhibit more relationship‐oriented leadership when his or her past temporal focus is incongruent (rather than congruent) with the team's past temporal focus. Individuals with a strong past temporal focus often hold long‐lasting grudges and, thus, find it difficult to overcome personal disputes (Pierro, Pica, Giannini, Higgins, & Kruglanski, ; Zakay & Fleisig, ). Also, these individuals place a strong emphasis on existing relationships and they are rather conservative in building new social connections (Park et al, ; Zimbardo & Boyd, ), whereas less past‐focused individuals attach limited value to (and more easily forget about) their personal relationship histories (Holman & Zimbardo, ; Zimbardo & Boyd, ).…”

How stressful is retirement! Antecedents of stress linked to athletes’ career termination

“…Evidence shows that the urge toward movement and change of high locomotors, and the urge of evaluating the quality of one's course of action of high assessors, leads them to predict, in different ways, several phenomena (Higgins et al, ; Kruglanski, Pierro, & Higgins, ; Pierro, Chernikova, Lo Destro, Higgins, & Kruglanski, ). For instance, locomotion has been found to be positively related to self‐forgiveness (Pierro, Pica, Giannini, Higgins, & Kruglanski, ), and negatively related to nostalgia (Pierro, Pica, Klein, Kruglanski, & Higgins, 2013), counterfactual thinking and regret after failure (Pierro et al, ), while the opposite pattern was found for assessment. Consistently, high locomotors (as opposed to high assessors) have a preference for multitasking, by easily changing their focus on one task to another, and to focus as sooner as possible on things to do by avoiding procrastination (Pica, Amato, Pierro, & Kruglanski, ; Pierro, Giacomantonio, Pica, Kruglanski, & Higgins, , ).…”

A Professional Development Workshop to Facilitate Self-Forgiveness

“…1 Self-forgiveness is positively associated with self-esteem, life satisfaction, and well-being, but negatively associated with neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and hostility. [2][3][4][5][6] Forgiveness of self and others has also been associated with physical health benefits, 7,8 a stronger immune system, 9 and reduced cardiovascular reactivity. [10][11][12][13] Nevertheless, physicians find self-forgiveness particularly challenging, 14 so acceptable evidence-based self-forgiveness tools to improve physicians' well-being are needed.…”