Forgiveness is important for repairing relationships that have been damaged by transgressions. In this research we explored the notion that the mode of physical exercise that victims of transgressions engage in and their capacity to override grudges are important in the process of forgiveness. Two exploratory studies that varied in samples (community non-student adults, undergraduate students) ...

Building on attribution and interdependence theories, two experiments tested the hypothesis that close friends of victims (third parties) are less forgiving than the victims themselves (first parties). In Experiment 1, individuals imagined a scenario in which either their romantic partner or the romantic partner of a close friend committed the identical relationship offense. Third parties were ...

Article history: Received 22 January 2016 Received in revised form 25 February 2016 Accepted 26 February 2016 Available online 7 March 2016 The belief in a just world (BJW) influences how people navigate their relationships. BJW effects differ depending on the extent to which one's BJW is concerned with the self (BJW-self) and others (BJW-other). In this study (N=160)we replicated previous rese...

Forgiveness is a concept with deep religious roots. It is also a basic social and psychological phenomenon. In this article, we explore the links between forgiveness and religion by surveying how they are linked in the major monotheistic world religions, and how they appear to be linked empirically. In attempting to account for the current body of empirical findings, we propose four potential s...

Narcissistic entitlement impedes forgiveness in ways not captured by other robust predictors (e.g., offense severity, apology, relationship closeness, religiosity, Big Five personality factors), as demonstrated in 6 studies. Narcissistic entitlement involves expectations of special treatment and preoccupation with defending one's rights. In Study 1, entitlement predicted less forgiveness and gr...

Three studies, using diverse methodologies and measures, were conducted to examine the role that the regulatory focus of an injured party and of a transgressor (E. T. Higgins, 1997, 2000) plays in explaining the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. The authors predicted that when a victim's regulatory focus (i.e., promotion vs. prevention) was congruent (i.e., fit) with the regulato...

Although the ability to forgive transgressions has been linked to overall relationship satisfaction, the mechanisms that mediate this association have not been established. We propose that the tendency to forgive a romantic partner increases relationship satisfaction via increased relational effort and decreased negative conflict. In two studies, we used structural equations modeling to examine...

Does forgiveness predict later conflict resolution in married couples? Twelve-month follow-up data on conflict resolution were collected from the couples studied by F. D. Fincham, S. R. Beach, and J. Davila, who had provided earlier reports of forgiveness and conflict resolution. For wives, the positive dimension of forgiveness or benevolence predicted husbands' later reports of better conflict...

Article history: Received 9 January 2016 Received in revised form 19 February 2016 Accepted 20 February 2016 Available online 1 March 2016 Researchers of romantic relationships have highlighted the role of forgiveness in relationshipmaintenance. However, to our knowledge, there has not yet been a study conducted to examine the relationship between forgiveness and romantic relationship dissoluti...

Stress associated with interpersonal conflict can adversely impact mental and physical health-especially when it causes activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Among victims of interpersonal transgressions, certain personality characteristics (viz., neuroticism and agreeableness) have been associated in some studies with successful conflict resolution and decreased physiological ...