In:
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, SAGE Publications, Vol. 31, No. 3 ( 2005-03), p. 334-342
Abstract:
Although positive and negative attitudes toward a transgressor are related to increased and decreased forgiveness, respectively, prior research has failed to investigate forgiveness among those who feel both positively and negatively toward a transgressor. Therefore, the authors examined such ambivalence and its relationship to forgiveness. It was hypothesized that spouses with ambivalent attitudes toward their partner will be less forgiving of a partner transgression because such an event is likely to prime the negative component of their ambivalence. Because ruminating about a transgression also has the potential to prime the negative component of one’s ambivalence, an interaction between rumination and ambivalence was predicted. Data from 87 married couples showed that greater attitudinal ambivalence toward the partner was associated with decreased forgiveness only when husbands and wives thought about the transgression frequently; ambivalence was not related to forgiveness in the absence of rumination. The implications of these findings for understanding forgiveness in marriage and for increasing forgiveness among married couples are discussed.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0146-1672
,
1552-7433
DOI:
10.1177/0146167204271595
Language:
English
Publisher:
SAGE Publications
Publication Date:
2005
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2047603-6
SSG:
5,2
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