Back to Search
Start Over
When transgressors intend to cause harm: The empowering effects of revenge and forgiveness on victim well-being.
- Source :
-
The British journal of social psychology [Br J Soc Psychol] 2020 Apr; Vol. 59 (2), pp. 447-469. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Dec 11. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- When people are transgressed against, they are usually motivated to restore personal power that was threatened by the transgression. We argue and test the new idea that while revenge and forgiveness responses are typically seen as opposites, both may be empowering, depending on the offender's intent to harm. Across two studies, one experimental (N = 381) and one employing an autobiographical recall paradigm (N = 251), we tested a moderated mediation model. Notably, we found that revenge is empowering at high levels of intent and forgiveness is empowering regardless of intent. Importantly, we also demonstrate that empowerment provides an explanation for the process by which getting revenge and forgiving are each associated with improved affective outcomes for victims.<br /> (© 2019 The British Psychological Society.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2044-8309
- Volume :
- 59
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The British journal of social psychology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 31823388
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12357