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Forgiveness

Essay Instructions:
Now that you have completed this course, I would like you to write a 3-5 page paper describing the definition of forgiveness that you now hold. Is it the same as the definition you held at the beginning of this course (a copy of the definition you handed in during the second class will have been handed back to you so that you can compare)? Please make sure that you include within your definitions what you think forgiveness is as well as what it is not, and whether or not there are unforgiveable acts. Why has your definition changed, or why has it stayed the same? Please make sure that your paper is typed, follows APA guidelines, and references at least two scholarly journal articles. 05:30:00 Psyc 191 Lecture Outline June 08, 2012: Definitions Forgiveness Definitions  Definitions provide a framework for explaining the why and how ◦ Guide intervention protocols ◦ Guide research questions ◦ Affect participant responses What do Clinicians Think?  80% or more agreed, forgiveness is: ◦ An inner process; releasing of anger and fear ◦ Reduction in desire to retaliate ◦ Something that takes time/slow process ◦ Not equivalent to forgetting ◦ 50.5%: Forgiveness takes place between two individuals  58.5%: Forgiveness does not have to follow a long-lasting psychological, emotional, or moral hurt What do Clergy Think? (and why do we care?)  Clergy and Community samples: ◦ Similar definitions ◦ Preconditions are necessary ◦ Reconciliation is necessary ◦ Clergy: 65.9% - forgiveness is unconditional VS. Community: 69.2% - there are limits to forgiveness  Clergy: 67.9% - repentance is unnecessary VS. 69.2% - repentance is necessary Psychology's Perspective  Forgiveness belonged to philosophy and theology ◦ All major religions make reference to forgiveness ◦ Psychological research began mid 1980's Agreements Between Researchers  Forgiveness is only applicable to people  Forgiveness entails a release of negatives  Much agreement about what forgiveness is not... Forgiveness is Not...  Forgetting  Condoning  Excusing  Justifying  Pardoning  Reconciliation Does the General Population Agree?  Generally agree with the notion of letting go of negatives  But tend to include ideas of forgetting and reconciliation (Kanz, 2000) Is Letting Go of Negatives Enough?  If only let go of negatives, are you left with indifference? ◦ Occurs simply with the passage of time  Adoption of positives ◦ Can you feel love toward the person who hurt you? 3 Big Names  Enright  Worthington  McCullough Enright  “...a willingness to abandon one's right to resentment, negative judgment, and indifferent behaviour toward the one who unjustly hurt us, while fostering the undeserved qualities of compassion, generosity, and even love toward him or her”  Forgiveness = cognitive + behavioural + affective  Forgiveness is a process  Replace negatives with positives  Forgiveness = an altruistic gift to offender Worthington  “...a motivation to reduce avoidance and withdrawal from a person who has hurt us, as well as the anger, desire for revenge, and urge to retaliate against that person. Forgiveness also increases the pursuit of conciliation toward that person if moral norms can be re-established that are as good as, or even better than, they were before the hurt”  2 types of forgiveness  Decisional forgiveness: Change in behavioural intentions  Emotional forgiveness: Replacement of negative, unforgiving emotions with positive, other-oriented emotions McCullough  “...a prosocial change in the motivation to avoid or to seek revenge against a transgression”  Forgiveness = change in 3 motives:  Reduction in motive to avoid  Reduction in motive to seek revenge  Increase in motive to act benevolently toward offender
Essay Sample Content Preview:

FORGIVENESS
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(June 20, 2012)
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is the personal response to having been injured or wronged or the condition that one seeks or hopes is bestowed upon having wronged someone else. Wrongdoing that is excused for has nothing to be forgiven. As the term forgive suggests it derives from give or grant it can be described as the act of giving up a feeling such as resentment or seeking for compensation. it is a relation involving the wronged party and the wrongdoer it may also involve groups of people for example intra-national restorative justice and efforts and government commissions established to effect truth and reconciliation and perpetrators and victims of historical wrongs.
The notion of forgiveness being teleological is a concept in both contemporary philosophical accounts, stressing moral and non moral purposes to be achieved by it and within the Christian religious tradition, which links forgiveness to human redemption by God (Pettigrove, 2007).Forgiving those who wrong us helps move beyond strong negative emotions which could harm us psychologically and physically if we held to them. For some forgiveness has forward looking benefits of how it transfigures the past. According to Emmanuel Levin as "Forgiveness acts upon the past, somehow repeats the event purifying it,"
For a behavior to qualify conceptually as forgiveness it must be based on morally legitimate considerations including whether the wrongdoer deserves to be forgiven (Murphy & Hampton, 1990). Pardoning, excusing and tolerating wrongs are usually mistaken as forgiveness it`s also thought to be synonymous with acquittal, absolution, mercy, forbearance and reconciliation among others. According to philosophy forgiving may occur without forgetting and the same forgetting may occur without forgiveness. Some maintain that forgiveness and reconciliation are equal with both having a common goal of moving people`s lives forward by restoring past relations compromised by wrong doings (Hughes, 2010).
Some of the often confused words to have the same meaning as forgiveness are not. Pardoning this usually an apology that precedes an action of forgiveness pardoning minor offences often seems indistinguishable from forgiveness in some cases where the speech act itself as normative work involved in forgiving and pardoning it is synonymous with forgiveness (Pettigrove,2004). Condonation is a closely related term to forgiveness yet di...
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