Abstract
Exploitation is a fact of life for social organisms, and natural selection gives rise to revenge mechanisms that are designed to deter such exploitations. However, humans may also possess cognitive forgiveness mechanisms designed to promote the restoration of valuable social relationships following exploitation. In the current article, the authors test the hypothesis that decisions about forgiveness result from a computational system that combines information about relationship value and exploitation risk to produce decisions about whom to forgive following interpersonal offenses. The authors examined the independent and interactive effects of relationship value and exploitation risk across two studies. In Study 1, controlling for other constructs related to forgiveness, the authors assessed relationship value and exploitation risk. In Study 2, participants experienced experimental manipulations of relationship value and exploitation risk. Across studies, using hypothetical and actual offenses and varied forgiveness measures, the combination of low exploitation risk and high relationship value predicted the greatest forgiveness.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 345-356 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2012 |
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Keywords
- evolutionary psychology
- exploitation
- forgiveness
- interpersonal relationships
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
Cite this
Forgiveness Results From Integrating Information About Relationship Value and Exploitation Risk. / Burnette, Jeni L.; McCullough, Michael; van Tongeren, Daryl R.; Davis, Don E.
In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 38, No. 3, 01.03.2012, p. 345-356.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Forgiveness Results From Integrating Information About Relationship Value and Exploitation Risk
AU - Burnette, Jeni L.
AU - McCullough, Michael
AU - van Tongeren, Daryl R.
AU - Davis, Don E.
PY - 2012/3/1
Y1 - 2012/3/1
N2 - Exploitation is a fact of life for social organisms, and natural selection gives rise to revenge mechanisms that are designed to deter such exploitations. However, humans may also possess cognitive forgiveness mechanisms designed to promote the restoration of valuable social relationships following exploitation. In the current article, the authors test the hypothesis that decisions about forgiveness result from a computational system that combines information about relationship value and exploitation risk to produce decisions about whom to forgive following interpersonal offenses. The authors examined the independent and interactive effects of relationship value and exploitation risk across two studies. In Study 1, controlling for other constructs related to forgiveness, the authors assessed relationship value and exploitation risk. In Study 2, participants experienced experimental manipulations of relationship value and exploitation risk. Across studies, using hypothetical and actual offenses and varied forgiveness measures, the combination of low exploitation risk and high relationship value predicted the greatest forgiveness.
AB - Exploitation is a fact of life for social organisms, and natural selection gives rise to revenge mechanisms that are designed to deter such exploitations. However, humans may also possess cognitive forgiveness mechanisms designed to promote the restoration of valuable social relationships following exploitation. In the current article, the authors test the hypothesis that decisions about forgiveness result from a computational system that combines information about relationship value and exploitation risk to produce decisions about whom to forgive following interpersonal offenses. The authors examined the independent and interactive effects of relationship value and exploitation risk across two studies. In Study 1, controlling for other constructs related to forgiveness, the authors assessed relationship value and exploitation risk. In Study 2, participants experienced experimental manipulations of relationship value and exploitation risk. Across studies, using hypothetical and actual offenses and varied forgiveness measures, the combination of low exploitation risk and high relationship value predicted the greatest forgiveness.
KW - evolutionary psychology
KW - exploitation
KW - forgiveness
KW - interpersonal relationships
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857154882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84857154882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0146167211424582
DO - 10.1177/0146167211424582
M3 - Article
C2 - 22082532
AN - SCOPUS:84857154882
VL - 38
SP - 345
EP - 356
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
SN - 0146-1672
IS - 3
ER -