An analysis of the components of forgiveness

Three studies examined the construct of forgiveness. Participants responded to 12 (Studies 1 and 2) or 24 (Study 3) focus phrases in both forgiver and forgiven modes. The focus phrases were associated with seven components derived from the literature. A large percentage of participants agree with phrases in the components of relationship, new beginning, healing, and guilt release, legal and religious components tend to attract a mixed response, and condoning disagreement. Results suggest that participants have a core construct of relationship, new beginning, healing and guilt release, some also include the legal or religious components but most exclude any idea of condoning. Participants seem to have a cognitive representation of forgiveness that is fairly robust and is relatively independent of gender, religiosity or mode. However, the emphasis placed on each component may vary with the situation or whether one is in the forgiver or forgiven mode

Profiling the seven components of forgiveness

No abstract available

Profiling the seven components of forgiveness.

No abstract available

A cross-cultural study of the construct of forgiveness: Britain, Greece and Cyprus

Examined cultural and gender differences in the construct of forgiveness and willingness to forgive. The Scobie Forgiveness Scale was administered to 564 undergraduate students in Britain, Greece, and Cyprus. Demographic factors included age, religion, church attendance, and religiosity. The results of a comparative factor analysis of the British and Greek-speaking samples indicate a number of significant differences in response to some of the focus phrases. The underlying structure and components were similar in both the forgiver and forgiven mode, but the variable load and composition showed a number of differences, suggesting that the effect of culture is profound. A MANOVA of the 3 national groups, for the forgiveness components and mode (forgiver or forgiven) revealed no significant gender differences for the different groups. In general, most differences were between the British and Cypriot samples, and relatively few between the British and Greek and the Greek and Cypriot groups