Is it Genuine or Pseudo-Forgiveness? Offenders’ Appraisals of Victims’ Expressed Forgiveness as a Function of Engagement in Co-Reflection

Abstract

After interpersonal wrongdoing, a victim may express forgiveness with or without having truly experienced a transformation to more positive sentiments toward the offender. As those forgiving sentiments are internal states, offenders do not know, and would need to make inferences, whether the forgiveness is genuine or pseudo-forgiveness. Two studies, an experiment using vignettes (N = 308) and a correlational study using a recalled wrongdoing (N = 179), provided evidence that, to the extent that the forgiveness was preceded by a reflective dialogue with the victim (i.e., co-reflection), offenders perceived the victim to believe in a shared value consensus and, mediated by it, appraised the forgiveness as more genuine. These findings highlight the dyadic nature of the moral repair process: the victim’s forgiveness gains meaning through the offender’s appraisal. If a victim wishes to communicate genuine forgiveness, then engaging with the offender in co-reflection may facilitate such meaning.