Our current understanding of forgiveness has been largely decontextualized, meaning that it has been considered within a culture-free context for much of its short life. This is unfortunate given the undeniable role that culture plays in almost every aspect of human behavior and dynamics. The examination of culture can be considered from multiple perspectives, both national and international, the latter of which is the focus of this chapter. Despite the proliferation of forgiveness research over the past two decades, comparatively little is understood about forgiveness from non-US-based perspectives. There are at least two means of considering the international forgiveness literature. First, there is research conducted solely in countries outside of the US, and this type comprises the majority of the literature. Several articles and chapters have been written about various forms of forgiveness in a few countries, primarily European and Asian countries. Second, we can consider the cross-cultural forgiveness literature, comparing forgiveness constructs in two or more countries. There are few multinational studies, including those comparing forgiveness in the US with other countries. For ease of reading, the term "international" will be be used to include both types of research, unless specified. When discussing international research, the overlap between the country under investigation and the myriad of cultures within the country is concerning. Culture can be considered from multiple frames, but for the sake of this chapter we will equate country with culture, noting strongly that the authors understand the perils of equating the two. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
CITATION STYLE
Leach, M. M., & Parazak, S. (2015). Culture, Forgiveness, and Health. In Forgiveness and Health (pp. 221–235). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5_15
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