Experimental study on effects of cognitive evaluation on generation of situational forgiveness in college students / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the generative condition of situational forgiveness in college students.Methods:Totally 208 college students were selected and randomly divided into 8 experimental treatment groups,using 8 different experimental conditions as stimuli,using 2 (behavioral intentionintentional/unintentional) × 2 (level of harmhigh/low) × 2 (sincere apologysincerity/insincerity) subjects experimental design,examining the subjects'cognitive appraisals of behavior intention,the degree of injury and sincere apology toward situational stories,to investigate the generative condition of situational forgiveness.Results:The forgiveness scores were significantly higher in the unintentional injury situation than in the intentional injury situation [(5.1 ± 1.8) vs.(4.0 ±1.5),P ＜ 0.001].The forgiveness scores were significantly higher than in low damage situation that in high damage situation [(5.0 ± 1.7) vs.(4.2 ± 1.7),P ＜0.001].The forgiveness scores were significantly higher in the situation of sincere apology than in the situation of insincerity [(5.4 ± 1.7) vs.(3.8 ± 1.3),P ＜0.001].Conclusion:It suggests that one'evaluation on the offend situation may affect the occurrence of situational forgiveness.Low damage and sincere apology are more likely to produce situational forgiveness