24th Annual Student Research Conference
Differences in Interpersonal Forgiveness when Comparing Active and Passive Transgressions
Spencer L. Girouard*, Katherine A. Judd, Caty E. Higgins, and Alex C. Nyquist
Dr. Teresa Heckert, Faculty Mentor
This study investigated the willingness of undergraduates to forgive hypothetical active or passive transgressions. We hypothesized that individuals would be more likely to forgive an offender after a passive (or unintentional) transgression. Forgiveness was defined as lacking hostility, avoidance, and revenge responses (Wade, 2008). Participants began by completing a demographic questionnaire and the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (Thompson, Snyder, Hoffman, Michael, & Rasmussen, 2005). Students were randomly assigned to five hypothetical interpersonal transgression scenarios. Each scenario came from one of five 2-scenario sets each containing functionally equivalent passive and active transgressions. After reading each scenario, the students rated their likelihood of forgiving the hypothetical offender. Participants also completed an abridged Causal Dimension Scale II (Russell, 1982) to measure their attributions for the transgression. Our findings will be presented at the conference.
Keywords: Interpersonal, Forgiveness, Passive, Active, Transgression
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 5-1
Location: MG 2001
Time: 8:00