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Self-forgiveness and Forgiveness-seeking in Response to Rumination: Cardiac and Emotional Responses of Transgressors

Sérgio P. da Silva
Charlotte V. O. Witvliet
Blake Riek
All your life you’re told forgiveness is for you. But we’re never told why it’s for you. It means you’re working on owning your life.
Shani Tran
Therapist and Founder, The Shani Project
Forgiveness is nothing less than the way we heal the world. We heal the world by healing each and every one of our hearts. The process is simple, but it is not easy.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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Self-forgiveness and Forgiveness-seeking in Response to Rumination: Cardiac and Emotional Responses of Transgressors

Sérgio P. da Silva
Charlotte V. O. Witvliet
Blake Riek
NO. of participants
Date
2016
Type of Evidence
Type of Paper
Primary Empirical Study
Empiricism
open access
Yes
No
sample size
83

Self-forgiveness and forgiveness-seeking are important and understudied aspects of forgiveness. We examined the cardiac and emotional patterns of healthy young adults (40 women, 40 men) who recalled an unresolved offense they had caused another person. Participants engaged in four imagery conditions: ruminating about the offense, being humbly repentant and engaging in self-forgiveness, seeking forgiveness from the victim and receiving forgiveness, and seeking forgiveness from the victim and being begrudged. Being repentant and begrudged forgiveness by one’s victim was associated with the same level of guilt as when ruminating, but significantly more negative emotion, less control, and less empathy than when ruminating, self-forgiving, and receiving forgiveness from the victim. Compared to ruminating about one’s wrongdoing, self-forgiving alleviated guilt and negative emotion, increased perceived control, decreased heart rate, and increased parasympathetic activation. Imagery of receiving forgiveness from the victim resulted in these same patterns and was equivalent to self-forgiveness across variables.

Research
North America
Mental Health Professionals
Supporting Research
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