Forgiveness is linked to a number of health outcomes, health conditions, and psychosocial and psychophysiological factors known to be associated with mortality/longevity (Worthington et al., 2007). However, studies have not linked forgiveness to mortality per se, and little is known about the extent to which the effect of forgiveness on mental and physical health ultimately influences an individual’s mortality risk. Theorists have argued that the responses victims adopt toward their offenders have ramifications not only for their cognition, but also for their emotion, physiology, and health. A study conducted by Charlotte van Oyen Witvliet, Thomas E. Ludwig and Kelly L. Vander Laan examined the immediate emotional and physiological effects
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Several studies have examined the relationship between forgiveness and mental health, finding that it’s better for your peace of mind to forgive than to hold a grudge. To study the impact of forgiveness, the team asked 71 participants to recall an individual who had wronged them in the past. They were asked how severe the offense was, whether the perpetrator had apologized, and whether the friendship had survived the offense. Next, participants were attached to devices to measure facial tension corresponding to negative emotions (an electromyogram placed on the brow), skin conductance (a measure often used in lie detector tests), heart rate, and blood pressure, on a moment-to-moment basis. Then they read one of four scripts designed to evoke forgiving or unforgiving …show more content…
Participants rehearse the memories of the hurtful event.
Harboring a grudge. Participants maintain their anger against the perpetrator, in order to maintain emotional control or “save face.”
Developing empathy. Participants try to understand the whole person who committed the offense, instead of solely thinking of them as an offender.
Granting forgiveness. Participants let go of negative feelings about the offender (without absolving them of guilt) and instead take on feelings of mercy and goodwill.
Then, after 8 seconds of relaxation, a tone sounded to tell participants to begin imagining the particular feeling indicated by the script. After 16 seconds, a second tone sounded, and participants were asked to relax again (by breathing deeply and repeating the word “one”). The following set of charts shows the participants’ physiological responses, broken into 4-second intervals beginning at the point when the first tone sounded: Figure 1: shows the participants' physiological
Several studies have examined the relationship between forgiveness and mental health, finding that it’s better for your peace of mind to forgive than to hold a grudge. To study the impact of forgiveness, the team asked 71 participants to recall an individual who had wronged them in the past. They were asked how severe the offense was, whether the perpetrator had apologized, and whether the friendship had survived the offense. Next, participants were attached to devices to measure facial tension corresponding to negative emotions (an electromyogram placed on the brow), skin conductance (a measure often used in lie detector tests), heart rate, and blood pressure, on a moment-to-moment basis. Then they read one of four scripts designed to evoke forgiving or unforgiving …show more content…
Participants rehearse the memories of the hurtful event.
Harboring a grudge. Participants maintain their anger against the perpetrator, in order to maintain emotional control or “save face.”
Developing empathy. Participants try to understand the whole person who committed the offense, instead of solely thinking of them as an offender.
Granting forgiveness. Participants let go of negative feelings about the offender (without absolving them of guilt) and instead take on feelings of mercy and goodwill.
Then, after 8 seconds of relaxation, a tone sounded to tell participants to begin imagining the particular feeling indicated by the script. After 16 seconds, a second tone sounded, and participants were asked to relax again (by breathing deeply and repeating the word “one”). The following set of charts shows the participants’ physiological responses, broken into 4-second intervals beginning at the point when the first tone sounded: Figure 1: shows the participants' physiological