Collectivism Model Of Forgiveness

The study of forgiveness has increased in the recent years. Also, number of studies and research has been done in order to understand the right definition of forgiveness, ways to promote forgiveness, measurement of forgiveness and the relationship between forgiveness and religion (Worthington, 2005b). Forgiveness is the act of pardoning and overlooking the offender’s mistake. Worthington believes that there are two different types of forgiveness; decisional and emotional. Decisional forgiveness is when the victim decides to forgive the offender and lets go of all the angry and negative feelings and thoughts. Emotional forgiveness is when the victim decides to replace the negative emotions with positive emotions such as empathy and compassion.
This is because the ability to forgive which is culturally admired and it is associated with religions. Additionally, forgiveness also increase one’s mental well-being, thus, boosting their happiness. Previously mentioned was the individualism and collectivism model which has an impact on whether people from different cultures forgive others and if they do, the reason behind forgiving them. Many pieces of research has suggested that forgiveness is more likely to occur in a relationship which is close, committed and good (McCullough, 2000; Hoyt, Fincham, McCullough, Maio, & Davila, 2005; Tsang, McCullough, & Fincham, 2006). Individualism is when one individual thinks about himself or herself over social harmony. They make their own choices and are separate from the group. Whereas collectivism sees that the group’s happiness is over their individual happiness. They value social harmony over making their own choices (http://objectivism101.com/Lectures/Lecture39.shtml). In the United States, relationships that are voluntary more common and personal choices are the most important (Iyengar & Lepper, 1999). This is because the United States is a western culture, thus, an individualistic society. Individualism is more prevalent in the western cultures and collectivism is more common in eastern cultures. In Eastern cultures, having relationships is important and are required because they believe that social harmony is important and ivnvduals would be happier if everyone in a group is happy. Forgiveness is seen as a personal choice in individualistic societies and if forgiveness is not granted to the offender, the relationship can break and there is a very low chance of having it mended. Whereas, in collectivistic societies, forgiveness is seen as important and compulsory because it helps to maintain harmony and they value