Victim and Perpetrator Perspectives in Post World War II Contexts: Intergroup Forgiveness and Historical Closure in Europe and East Asia

<p>The current thesis aimed to extend existing research on intergroup forgiveness by considering historical context as an important element. The clear victim and perpetrator roles in the European and East Asian post World War II settings provided the context for this research. Social representations of history provided the theoretical framework for four studies. Study 1 employed a meta-analytical approach to explore the impact of contextual variables on interpersonal forgiveness across 13 societies. Based on Berry's ecocultural framework and Inglehart's affluence theory it was expected that socio-political, societal well-being and socio-economic variables are linked to interpersonal forgiveness. Significant differences in interpersonal forgiveness between the 13 societies emerged, which could be explained by conflict potential, socio-economic and socio-political context variables, societal peacefulness, societal well-being, and negative societal evaluations of historical calamities. Study 2 explored conceptualisations of interpersonal and intergroup forgiveness using a qualitative approach with interviewees from Japan, Germany and the Philippines. Facets, antecedents and outcomes of forgiveness were identified as main themes. Differences in the relevance of forgiveness as a means of conflict resolution were revealed across cultures. An illuminating concept was identified and labelled as "historical closure", signifying an attitude towards historical issues as relevant or irrelevant to present and future relationships between groups. Study 3a and 3b included victim perspectives from three formerly victimized European nations (France, Poland, Russia) and three formerly victimized East Asian nations (China, Taiwan, Philippines). Study 3a examined differences in intergroup forgiveness across the six societies. Between-society differences were found. Chinese participants were less forgiving compared to French participants, pointing to the different historical contexts as an explanatory source. Study 3b investigated the ability of historical closure and other group-based constructs to predict intergroup forgiveness. In both settings, historical closure was a consistent significant predictor and contributed to explain unique variance. A cross-level operator analysis revealed that political apologies by the perpetrator country during the last 20 years was negatively associated with intergroup forgiveness, indicating that external context related variables can contribute to explain intergroup forgiveness. Study 4 investigated perpetrator perspectives from Japan and Germany, with focus on the cognitive and behavioural components of the willingness to make amends. Japanese and Germans differed significantly on the behavioural component: it was predicted by lack of closure in the Japanese sample; whereas in the German sample guilt and shame were positive predictors. Lack of historical closure consistently contributed to predicting the cognitive component of the willingness to make amends. Japanese experienced more guilt and shame feelings than Germans. Stronger national identification did not contribute as expected and had a reversed effect in Japan by being a positive predictor. Historical closure is an intriguing concept, as it is a positive predictor for intergroup forgiveness among participants from formerly victimized nations, but a negative predictor for the willingness to make amends among participants from formerly perpetrating nations. This is an interesting interdependency in coming to terms with history: closure seems to be needed by victims to be ready to forgive, whereas the lack of closure for perpetrators seems to drive the willingness to make amends.</p>

Victim and Perpetrator Perspectives in Post World War II Contexts: Intergroup Forgiveness and Historical Closure in Europe and East Asia

<p>The current thesis aimed to extend existing research on intergroup forgiveness by considering historical context as an important element. The clear victim and perpetrator roles in the European and East Asian post World War II settings provided the context for this research. Social representations of history provided the theoretical framework for four studies. Study 1 employed a meta-analytical approach to explore the impact of contextual variables on interpersonal forgiveness across 13 societies. Based on Berry's ecocultural framework and Inglehart's affluence theory it was expected that socio-political, societal well-being and socio-economic variables are linked to interpersonal forgiveness. Significant differences in interpersonal forgiveness between the 13 societies emerged, which could be explained by conflict potential, socio-economic and socio-political context variables, societal peacefulness, societal well-being, and negative societal evaluations of historical calamities. Study 2 explored conceptualisations of interpersonal and intergroup forgiveness using a qualitative approach with interviewees from Japan, Germany and the Philippines. Facets, antecedents and outcomes of forgiveness were identified as main themes. Differences in the relevance of forgiveness as a means of conflict resolution were revealed across cultures. An illuminating concept was identified and labelled as "historical closure", signifying an attitude towards historical issues as relevant or irrelevant to present and future relationships between groups. Study 3a and 3b included victim perspectives from three formerly victimized European nations (France, Poland, Russia) and three formerly victimized East Asian nations (China, Taiwan, Philippines). Study 3a examined differences in intergroup forgiveness across the six societies. Between-society differences were found. Chinese participants were less forgiving compared to French participants, pointing to the different historical contexts as an explanatory source. Study 3b investigated the ability of historical closure and other group-based constructs to predict intergroup forgiveness. In both settings, historical closure was a consistent significant predictor and contributed to explain unique variance. A cross-level operator analysis revealed that political apologies by the perpetrator country during the last 20 years was negatively associated with intergroup forgiveness, indicating that external context related variables can contribute to explain intergroup forgiveness. Study 4 investigated perpetrator perspectives from Japan and Germany, with focus on the cognitive and behavioural components of the willingness to make amends. Japanese and Germans differed significantly on the behavioural component: it was predicted by lack of closure in the Japanese sample; whereas in the German sample guilt and shame were positive predictors. Lack of historical closure consistently contributed to predicting the cognitive component of the willingness to make amends. Japanese experienced more guilt and shame feelings than Germans. Stronger national identification did not contribute as expected and had a reversed effect in Japan by being a positive predictor. Historical closure is an intriguing concept, as it is a positive predictor for intergroup forgiveness among participants from formerly victimized nations, but a negative predictor for the willingness to make amends among participants from formerly perpetrating nations. This is an interesting interdependency in coming to terms with history: closure seems to be needed by victims to be ready to forgive, whereas the lack of closure for perpetrators seems to drive the willingness to make amends.</p>

An Evolutionary Psychology View of Forgiveness: Individuals, Groups, and Culture

We review the logic of an evolutionary perspective on forgiveness, highlighting how insight into the likely function of forgiveness--solving adaptive problems related to acquiring and maintaining social relationships--has productively guided research and theory. A combination of experimental, longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-cultural evidence supports the claim that victims’ perceptions of harmdoers’ relationship value and exploitation causally influence whether or not victims forgive harmdoers. We also review the nascent literature on the topic of intergroup forgiveness, and consider how the concepts associated with interpersonal forgiveness, such as apologies, relationship value, and exploitation risk might help us understand forgiveness between groups, cultures, and societies. Finally, we explore the intersection of evolutionary and cultural perspectives on forgiveness, and consider how concepts from these two research traditions might be integrated to help us understand forgiveness even better.

God’s Perceived Engagement/Disengagement in Response to Prayer and Interpersonal Forgiveness: The Mediating Role of Positive Orientation

It is well documented that religion and its different aspects positively affect people’s ability to forgive. However, studies have rarely moved beyond direct associations to explore potential mediators of this relationship. In this context, our main aim was to examine the direct relationship between God’s engagement/disengagement in response to prayer and forgiveness with the possible influence of a positive orientation. Data were gathered from 464 participants aged 18 to 75 (M = 31.10; SD = 11.32). This study included 255 women (55%) and 209 men. We used the Brief Measure of Perceived Divine Engagement and Disengagement in Response to Prayer, the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory, and the Positivity Scale. In line with our hypotheses, interpersonal forgiveness correlated positively with God’s perceived engagement (H1); it was negatively associated with God’s disengagement (H2); and it was positively linked to positive orientation (H3). Moreover, positive orientation mediated the relationship between religiosity and interpersonal forgiveness. This may suggest that positivity is not indifferent in the process of forgiving, especially when people are aware of God’s involvement in their lives.

Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Anger: Resources and Risk Factors for Italian Prison Inmates

The adjustment of prison inmates is recently becoming a social concern. In the current study we focused on the role of gratitude, interpersonal forgiveness, and anger, which have been widely addressed as likely to influence people’s health and adaptive behaviors, in shaping prison inmates’ psychological wellbeing and criminal attitudes. Participants were 104 male prison inmates aged between 24 and 75 ( Mage = 46.63, SD = 11.38) imprisoned in Northern Italy who were asked to fill in an anonymous self-report questionnaire. Results highlighted that all dimensions considered play an important, albeit different and highly specific, role; Gratitude is a promotional factor that enhances psychological wellbeing, whereas interpersonal forgiveness appears to be a protective factor against the adoption of a criminal attitude as violence or antisocial intent. Finally, anger is a risk factor toward both psychological wellbeing and violent behaviors. Implications of these results and further developments of the study are discussed.

Validating the Enright Forgiveness Inventory – 30 (EFI-30)

This study reports the process of item reduction of the Enright Forgiveness Inventory – EFI, a measure of interpersonal forgiveness, from 60 to 30 items for a more practical assessment of this construct. Data from the US were used in the creation of the new measure and applied to seven nations: Austria, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, Norway, Pakistan, and Taiwan. The question was: do the best EFI-30 items from the US have discriminative power in seven other cultures? Results provided the psychometric evidence for the reduced version of the EFI-30 across cultures. The discrimination values are positive, suggesting that the selected items have the sensitivity to differentiate accurately people with different degrees of forgiveness and good psychometric properties of internal consistency.

Healing our Brokenness: A pastoral care approach

Pastors, priests and ministers of congregations and all people of faith, are called to communicate the faithfulness and care of the Creator to the adherents of the faith. This needs to be carried out in the contexts in which communities live and through the ways people experience challenges in life and seek healing. This research paper sought to acknowledge the healing of our brokenness using a pastoral care approach as the lenses through which to explore the issues. The paper revealed some themes such as a definition of what pastoral care includes, what the researcher thinks about pastoral care and the methodology that the researcher has used. Furthermore, this paper sought to give an impact of the pastoral care in the lives of church members who are experiencing a sense of brokenness. Community pastoral care is required to integrate the revelation of the Kingdom of God and His grace and blessings, as well as the prospect of a solid association with Him when it comes to being whole. Such a linkage will serve to transform the life of the people in a community under duress. For healing to take its course, forgiveness has to be effected and then a reconciliation can then be the enhancer of healing. Grounds therefore need to open for people to speak openly with no biases being the stumbling blocks for them in revealing their feelings and frustrations. The predominant theological understanding of interpersonal forgiveness, as it is portrayed in Christian Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus, is that interpersonal and divine forgiveness are inextricably related. Theologically, one cannot consider the forgiveness of another person outside the context of God’s forgiveness. Brokenness is part of our lives because we are born into sin. This paper also reveals to a limited extent the impacts of the spiritual discipline of prayer, pastoral care in a process of healing, preaching as counseling tool for healing, and healing of total depravity.