page_title: Forgiveness
section_title: Research
hierarchical_section_title: Forgiveness / Research
caption_attribution_description: English: Graphic on forgiveness
context_page_description: Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, and overcomes negative emotions such as resentment and vengeance. Theorists differ, however, in the extent to which they believe forgiveness also implies replacing the negative emotions with positive attitudes. Forgiveness is different from condoning, excusing, forgetting, pardoning, and reconciliation.
  In certain contexts, forgiveness is a legal term for absolving or giving up all claims on account of debt, loan, obligation, or other claims.
  As a psychological concept and virtue, the benefits of forgiveness have been explored in religious thought, social sciences and medicine. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives including forgiving themself, in terms of the person forgiven or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In most contexts, forgiveness is granted without any expectation of restorative justice, and without any response on the part of the offender.
context_section_description: Although there is presently no consensus for a psychological definition of forgiveness in research literature, agreement has emerged that forgiveness is a process, and a number of models describing the process of forgiveness have been published, including one from a radical behavioral perspective.
  Dr. Robert Enright from the University of Wisconsin–Madison founded the International Forgiveness Institute and is considered the initiator of forgiveness studies. He developed a 20-Step Process Model of Forgiveness. Recent work has focused on what kind of person is more likely to be forgiving. A longitudinal study showed that people who were generally more neurotic, angry, and hostile in life were less likely to forgive another person even after a long time had passed. Specifically, these people were more likely to still avoid their transgressor and want to enact revenge upon them two and a half years after the transgression.
  Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold resentments. The first study to look at how forgiveness improves physical health discovered that when people think about forgiving an offender it leads to improved functioning in their cardiovascular and nervous systems. Another study at the University of Wisconsin found the more forgiving people were, the less they suffered from a wide range of illnesses. The less forgiving people reported a greater number of health problems.
  The research of Dr. Fred Luskin of Stanford University, and author of the book Forgive for Good presented evidence that forgiveness can be learned (i.e. can be a teachable skill, with practice) based on research projects into the effects of teaching forgiveness: giving empirical validity to the concept that forgiveness is powerful as well as excellent for your health. In three separate studies, including one with Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland whose family members were murdered in the political violence, he found that people who are taught how to forgive become less angry, feel less hurt, are more optimistic, become more forgiving in a variety of situations, and become more compassionate and self-confident. His studies show a reduction in experience of stress, physical manifestations of stress, and an increase in vitality.
caption: Factors determining the likelihood of forgiveness in an intimate relationship
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