Skip to main content

Evaluate Emotional and Decisional Forgiveness



Following a painful experience like those reported by women in the “me too” movement, many may work to forgive their offender to free themselves from the ongoing internal struggle caused by rehearsing the event and nursing anger.

Forgiveness, of course, should not be construed as excusing, pardoning, or tolerating abuse. Neither should survivors' forgiveness of their offenders reduce the responsibility of government and business leaders to act justly and provide safeguards against future offenses.

When people begin to work on forgiveness toward offenders for particularly horrific offenses like rape and murder, they may find strong emotions like anger and the desire for revenge make it seem impossible to overcome. Ev Worthington (Virginia Commonwealth University) and his colleagues have published two measures of forgiveness that divide forgiveness into two parts: Emotional and Decisional.

This makes sense to me as a clinician, a scientist, and a person who, like many, have had to forgive others. I had called the decisional part “dutiful” forgiveness because many cultures, including religious cultures, look at forgiveness as a duty. Thus, a person may act according to a sense of duty and decide to forgive an offender. They may find they are able to stop seeking revenge or stop avoiding their offender.

But, despite the decision to forgive an offender, the forgiver can be troubled by strong emotions, which persist despite the "decisional forgiveness." So, it can seem as if one has made little progress in forgiving, if the strong emotions persist. 

I think having two dimensions to consider may be helpful to survivors who wish to measure their progress in two different ways. The two measures can help clinicians as they guide clients through forgiveness and note that progress may be uneven. For example, the emotional aspect may proceed more slowly than the decisional aspect. Of course, researchers may also find the two measures helpful as additions to their surveys about relationships and counseling outcomes.

I will provide a link below to the two scales along with data indicating they have a history of reasonable values for reliability and validity statistics in published articles.

Following are examples:

DECISIONAL FORGIVENESS SCALE
Strongly Disagree (SD)
Disagree (D)
Neutral (N)
Agree (A)
Strongly Agree (SA)
1. I intend to try to hurt him or her in the same way he or she hurt me.
SD
D
N
A
SA
2. I will not try to help him or her if he or she needs something.
SD
D
N
A
SA






Creating Surveys

Create better surveys for work and school




BUY today AMAZON





EMOTIONAL FORGIVENESS SCALE
Strongly Disagree (SD)
Disagree (D)
Neutral (N)
Agree (A)
Strongly Agree (SA)
1. I care about him or her.
SD
D
N
A
SA
2. I no longer feel upset when I think of him or her.
SD
D
N
A
SA






Applied Statistics: Concepts for Counselors

Amazon Kindle 

BUY ON AMAZON

Available in over 12 countries.



The two forgiveness scales

[I would include the entire scales here but they are published in copyrighted works. Researchers and educators may use the scales for non-commercial purposes. You can find a downloadable pdf file on Researchgate:  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286221719_Measures_of_Forgiveness 

Resource Link:  A – Z Test Index


Resource: Books About Forgiveness

 Connections and Links to Resources

My Page    www.suttong.com

My Books   AMAZON

FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

LinkedIN Geoffrey Sutton  PhD

Publications (many free downloads)
     
  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (PhD)
    
  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (PhD)






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ)

  The Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire  ( PSQ )   Overview The Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ) measures self-concept based on ratings of 18 items, which are grouped into four categories: Self-fulfilment, autonomy, honesty, and emotional self-concept. Subscales : The PSQ has four subscales 1. Self-fulfilment (6 items) 2. Autonomy (4 items) 3. Honesty (3 items) 4. Emotional self-concept (5 items)  ðŸ‘‰ [ Read more about Self-Concept and Self-Identity] The PSQ is a Likert-type scale with five response options ranging from totally disagree to totally agree. Reliability and Validity In the first study, coefficient alpha = .85 and in study two, alpha = .83. Data analysis supported a four-dimensional model (see the four categories above). Positive correlations with other self-concept measures were statistically significant. Other notes The authors estimated it took about 10 minutes to complete the PSQ. Their first study included people ages 12 to 36 ( n = 506). In the second s
Post a Comment
Read more

Student Self-Efficacy

  Assessment name:  STUDENT SELF-EFFICACY SCALE * Note. This post has been updated to provide an available measure of student self-efficacy. ———- Scale overview:  The  student self-efficacy scale i s a 10-item measure of self-efficacy. It was developed using data from university nursing students in the United States. Authors: Melodie Rowbotham and Gerdamarie Schmitz Response Type:  A four-choice rating scale as follows: 1 = not at all true 2 = hardly true 3 = moderately true 4 = exactly true   Self-efficacy is the perception that a person can act in a way to achieve a desired goal.  Scale items There are 10 items. Examples: I am confident in my ability to learn, even if I am having a bad day. If I try hard enough, I can obtain the academic goals I desire.   Psychometric properties The authors reported that their sample scores ranged from 25 to 40 with a scale mean of 34.23 ( SD  = 3.80. Internal consistency was high at alpha = .84. The authors reported the results of a principal compon
Post a Comment
Read more

Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ)

  Scale name: Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) Scale overview: The Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) is a 29-item self-report measure of both mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety. Author: Diana Kathleen May Response Type: Items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale following a “no response” option: 1 = Never 2 = Seldom 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = usually Sample items 1. I feel confident enough to ask questions  in my mathematics class. 6. I worry that I will not be able to get a  good grade in my mathematics course.   Subscales and basic statistics for the MSEAQ       Self-Efficacy M = 44.11, SD = 10.78, alpha = .93       Anxiety M = 46.47, SD = 12.61, alpha = .93       Total Scale M = 90.58, SD = 22.78, alpha = .96 Reliability: See the Cronbach’s alpha levels reported above. Validity: There were significant positive correlations with similar measures. The results of a Fa
Post a Comment
Read more