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Maintaining harmony across the globe: The cross-Cultural association between closeness and interpersonal forgiveness

Karremans, Johan C., Regalia, Camillo, Paleari, F. Giorgia, Fincham, Frank D., Cui, Ming, Takada, Naomi, Ohbuchi, Ken-Ichi, Terzino, Kari, Cross, Susan E., Uskul, Ayse K. and others. (2011) Maintaining harmony across the globe: The cross-Cultural association between closeness and interpersonal forgiveness. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2 (5). pp. 443-451. ISSN 1948-5506. (doi:10.1177/1948550610396957) (KAR id:32401)

Abstract

Although previous research shows that relationship closeness plays a central role in an individual’s willingness to forgive an offender, it is based exclusively on data from Western, individualistic cultures. In the current study, the authors examined the association between relationship closeness and forgiveness across six countries, including both traditionally individualistic—Italy, the Netherlands, the United States—and collectivistic cultures—Japan, China (and one country, Turkey, with both individualistic and collectivistic features). Results demonstrated that, cross-culturally, there was a robust positive association between closeness toward the offender and level of forgiveness, both for trait-forgiveness and offense-specific forgiveness. However, this association was weaker in the collectivistic countries, which may suggest that strong norms in these countries to maintain social harmony may partly weaken the role of closeness in forgiveness. Overall, the present findings are discussed in terms of the possible evolutionary origins of forgiveness and the role of individualism/collectivism in forgiveness.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/1948550610396957
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Ayse Uskul
Date Deposited: 06 Dec 2012 17:10 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:10 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/32401 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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