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The stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness posits that forgiveness and aggression are alternative ways of coping with stress of interpersonal offences. Inspired by the link between aggression and MAOA-uVNTR (a genetic variant involving in catabolism of monoamines), we investigated the relationship between this variant and forgiveness with two studies. Study 1 examined the relationship between the MAOA-uVNTR and trait forgiveness in students, and study 2 examined the effect of this variant on third-party forgiveness in response to situational offences in male inmates. The results showed that the MAOA-H (a high activity allele) was associated with higher trait forgiveness in male students and greater third-party forgiveness to accidentally committed harm and attempted but failed harm in male inmates than the MAOA-L. These findings highlight the bright side of MAOA-uVNTR on trait and situational forgiveness., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest concerning their authorship or the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Immoral behaviors make individuals abominate and punish transgressors. Inspired by the associations between the Val66Met polymorphism of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) gene and emotional responses following negative events, we investigated whether this polymorphism was also associated moral emotions such as punishment and forgiveness following interpersonal transgression. To do so, we categorized 340 individuals according to the BDNF Val66Met and assessed moral emotions by using 12 hypothetic scenarios in different conditions of intention and interpersonal consequence. The results indicated that this polymorphism was significantly associated with moral aversion and punishment towards transgressors. Victims with the Val/Val genotype expressed less aversion and punishment than the Met carriers, regardless of intention and interpersonal consequence. Moreover, this polymorphism was associated with forgiveness. Victims with the Val/Val genotype expressed more forgiveness than the Met carriers. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of the BDNF Val66Met to moral emotions., (© 2020 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Forgiveness, an emotion regulation strategy for overcoming personal distress and healing injuries following interpersonal conflicts, is greatly modulated by parental bonding (e.g. parental care and overprotection) and genetic predispositions. Inspired by the roles of dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) gene in empathy and emotion regulation, we examined how parental bonding interacted with the DBH-1021C/T (i.e. a polymorphism accounts for 35–52% of variance in DBH activity) in forgiveness. Results indicated that (1) the score on forgiveness was positively related to parental care, but negatively related to parental overprotection; (2) parental care significantly interacted with the DBH-1021C/T in forgiveness with differential susceptibility model. The TT/CT genotypes were related to lower forgiveness than the CC genotype among individuals with lower parental care, butwere related to higher forgiveness among individuals with optimal parental care. These findings provide a new insight into the gene–environment interaction in the development of forgiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]