Forgiveness: Does Psychological Flexibility Matter?

Abstract

Psychological flexibility is conceptualised as an individual’s ability to mindfully react to internal experiences through flexible responding to negative thoughts, emotions, and events, such that they achieve enhanced psychological and physical functioning (Harris, 2019). Over the past two decades research has shown increasing interest in psychological flexibility and its mechanisms. However, little attention has been paid to how psychological flexibility predicts forgiveness. The present study aimed to provide empirical evidence for a relationship between psychological flexibility and interpersonal forgiveness. More specifically, the study [a] tested the relationship between psychological flexibility and interpersonal forgiveness while controlling for known correlates of forgiveness and [b] explored the extent to which psychological flexibility moderates the effects of well-established situational predictors of forgiveness. The study employed a recall experimental design where participants were required to indicate attitudes towards their transgressor. 176 participants completed an online survey responding to measures of interpersonal forgiveness, psychological flexibility, psychological inflexibility, relationship quality, transgression severity, perceived intent, reparative effort, rumination, state anger and state empathy. Results found that psychological flexibility did not significantly explain greater variance in predicting forgiveness when controlling for known predictors. However, psychological flexibility was found to moderate the relationship between relationship investment and forgiveness. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.