Abstract
In the last decade, the concept of forgiveness has received increasing theoretical and
empirical attention in both social, clinical, and developmental psychology.
Forgiveness is generally conceptualized as an intentional act by which people seek to
overcome their revengeful feelings and their inclination to avoid an offender. In our
lecture and chapter we will suggest that, despite the idea that forgiveness is
determined by deliberative and intentional processes, one’s level of forgiveness is at
least partly influenced by situational factors, and it may often be affected by
unconscious processes. To support this idea, we will review recent research findings
demonstrating that (a) over time, level of forgiveness regarding a past offense
fluctuates considerably, and that (b) subtle priming techniques can trigger people’s
willingness to forgive their offenders. For example, it has been demonstrated that
increased accessibility of prosocial values (i.e., helpfulness, social justice) facilitates
forgiveness, as do closeness primes, power primes, and subtle manipulations of
increased subjective temporal distance from the offense. Contrary to the notion of
forgiveness as a purely intentional and deliberative process, such findings suggest that
forgiveness is relatively malleable and that, over time, implicit situational cues may
help people to overcome their resentment toward an offender. Implications regarding
conceptualizations of forgiveness, as well as possible practical, therapeutic, and
societal implications will be discussed.
