Abstract
Moral failure—transgressing against moral codes and values, and hurting others or oneself—implies several psychological threats to self, specifically to one’s need for personal agency, moral identity, and social belonging. Self-forgiveness is an effortful process that may address these needs, not by diminishing the failure, but rather through acceptance of failure and responsibility, and their integration into oneself. Though this path may be psychologically taxing, it allows offenders to restore their relationship with the victim and their place within the broader community in a way that is empowering rather than defensive. In this chapter, we discuss the psychological threats that arise when we commit transgressions, particularly the underlying threats to the needs for moral-social identity and agency. We discuss how taking responsibility for misdeeds is a first step to processing these needs, and we identify barriers to responsibility-taking. We conclude by exploring ways of reducing these barriers, including value reaffirmation, as a means of moving toward self-forgiveness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abele, A. E., & Wojciszke, B. (2014). Communal and agentic content in social cognition: A dual perspective model. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 50, 195–255.
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement and the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(3), 193–209.
Bastian, B., Jetten, J., & Fasoli, F. (2011). Cleansing the soul by hurting the flesh: The guilt-reducing effect of pain. Psychological Science, 22(3), 334–335. doi:10.1177/0956797610397058.
Baumeister, R. F., Stillwell, A. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). Guilt: An interpersonal approach. Psychological Bulletin, 115(2), 243–267.
Bell, C. M., Davis, D. E., Griffin, B. J., Ashby, J. S., & Rice, K. G. (2017). The promotion of self-forgiveness, responsibility, and willingness to make reparations through a workbook intervention. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(6), 571–578.
Bulman, R. J., & Wortman, C. B. (1977). Attributions of blame and coping in the” real world”: severe accident victims react to their lot. Journal of personality and social psychology, 35(5), 351–363.
Cibich, M., Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2016). Moving beyond “shame is bad”: How a functional emotion can become problematic. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(9), 471–483.
de Vel-Palumbo, M., Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2017). Why do we self-punish? Perceptions of the motives and impact of self-punishment outside the laboratory. Manuscript Submitted for Publication.
Detweiler, M. (2015). Self-affirmation and values-affirmation: Which pathway enhances moral engagement in offenders? Honours Dissertation, Flinders University of South Australia.
Dickerson, S. S., Gruenewald, T. L., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004). When the social self is threatened: Shame, physiology, and health. Journal of Personality, 72(6), 1191–1216.
Enright, R. D., & The Human Development Study Group. (1996b). Counselling within the forgiveness triad: On forgiving, receiving forgiveness, and self-forgiveness. Journal of Counselling and Values, 40, 107–126.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Fisher, M. L., & Exline, J. J. (2006). Self-forgiveness versus excusing: The roles of remorse, effort, and acceptance of responsibility. Self and Identity, 5(2), 127–146.
Gilbert, P., & Woodyatt, L. (2017b). An evolutionary approach to shame-based self-criticism, self-forgiveness and compassion. In L. Woodyatt, E. L. Worthington Jr., M. Wenzel, & B. J. Griffin (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of self-forgiveness (Chapter 3). New York, NY: Springer.
Hall, J. H., & Fincham, F. D. (2005). Self-forgiveness: The stepchild of forgiveness research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24(5), 621–637.
Holmgren, M. R. (2012). Forgiveness and retribution: Responding to wrongdoing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Humans of New York (2016). https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork
Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D. A., Gilovich, T., & Ariely, D. (2013). Moral masochism: On the connection between guilt and self-punishment. Emotion, 13(1), 14–18. doi:10.1037/a0029749.
Leach, C. W., & Cidam, A. (2015). When is shame linked to constructive approach orientation? A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 983–1002.
Leach, C. W. (2017). Understanding shame and guilt. In L. Woodyatt, E. L. Worthington Jr., M. Wenzel, & B. J. Griffin (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of self-forgiveness (Chapter 2). New York, NY: Springer.
Leary, M. (2000). The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 1–62.
Leary, M. R., Raimi, K. T., Jongman-Sereno, K. P., & Diebels, K. J. (2015). Distinguishing intrapsychic from interpersonal motives in psychological theory and research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(4), 497–517.
Mauger, P. A., Perry, J. E., Freeman, T., Grove, D. C., McBride, A. G., & McKinney, K. E. (1992). The measurement of forgiveness: Preliminary research. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 11, 170–180.
New York Times (2016). Voices of Reconciliation http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/06/magazine/06-pieter-hugo-rwanda-portraits.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
Okimoto, T., & Wenzel, M. (2014). Bridging diverging perspectives and repairing damaged relationships in the aftermath of workplace transgressions. Business Ethics Quarterly, 24(3), 443–473.
Okimoto, T. G., Wenzel, M., & Hedrick, K. (2013). Refusing to apologize can have psychological benefits (and we issue no mea culpa for this research finding). European Journal of Social Psychology, 43(1), 22–31.
Prentice, D. A., Miller, D. T., & Lightdale, J. R. (1994). Asymmetries in attachments to groups and to their members: Distinguishing between common-identity and common-bond groups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 484–493.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.
Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2006). The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Advances in Experimental in Social Psychology, 38, 183–242.
Shnabel, N., & Nadler, A. (2008). A needs-based model of reconciliation: Satisfying the differential emotional needs of victim and perpetrator as a key to promoting reconciliation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 116–132.
Shnabel, N., & Nadler, A. (2015). The role of agency and morality in reconciliation processes the perspective of the needs-based model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(6), 477–483.
SimanTov-Nachlieli, I., Shnabel, N., & Halabi, S. (2016). The power to be moral: Affirming Israelis’ and Palestinians’ agency promotes prosocial tendencies across group boundaries. Journal of Social Issues, 72(3), 566–583.
SimanTov-Nachlieli, I., Shnabel, N., & Mori-Hoffman, A. (2017). Agents of reconciliation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(2), 218–232. doi:10.1177/0146167216678861.
Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 261–302.
Stone, J., Wiegand, A. W., Cooper, J. M., & Aronson, E. (1997). When exemplification fails: Hypocrisy and the motive for self-integrity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(1), 54–65. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.72.1.54.
Tangney, J., Boone, A. L., Fee, R., & Reinsmith, C. (1999). Multidimensional forgiveness scale. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University.
Tangney, J., Boone, A. L., & Dearing, R. (2005). Forgiveness of the self: Conceptual issues and empirical findings. In E. L. Worthington Jr. (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 143–158). Hoboken: Brunner-Routledge.
van Bunderen, L., & Bastian, B. (2014). “I have paid my dues”: When physical pain reduces interpersonal justice motivations. Motivation & Emotion, 38(4), 540–546. doi:10.1007/s11031-014-9403-8.
Wenzel, M. (2016, April). Dyadic victim-offender dynamics. Paper presented at Society of Australasian Social Psychology preconference research incubator on Forgiveness, Brisbane, Australia.
Wenzel, M., Okimoto, T., Feather, N. T., & Platow, M. J. (2008). Retributive and restorative justice. Law and Human Behavior, 32, 375–389. doi:10.1007/s10979-007-9116-6.
Wenzel, M., Woodyatt, L., & Hedrick, K. (2012). No genuine self-forgiveness without accepting responsibility: Value reaffirmation as a key to maintaining positive self-regard. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 617–627.
Wenzel, M., Woodyatt, L., & McLean, B. (2016). Implicit guilt following wrongdoing: Acceptance threat causes defensiveness, which value affirmation helps to overcome. Unpublished Manuscript.
Wohl, M. J. A., & Thompson, A. (2011). A dark side to self-forgiveness: Forgiving the self and its association with chronic unhealthy behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 354–364.
Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2013). The psychological immune response in the face of transgressions: Pseudo self-forgiveness and threat to belonging. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 951–958. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.05.016.
Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2014). A needs-based perspective on self-forgiveness: Addressing threat to moral identity as a means of encouraging interpersonal and intrapersonal restoration. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50, 125–135. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.09.012.
Woodyatt, L., Wenzel, M., & Ferber, M. (2017). Two pathways to self-forgiveness: A hedonic path via self-compassion and a eudaimonic path via the reaffirmation of violated values. British Journal of Social Psychology. Advance Online Publication. doi:10.1111/bjso.12194.
Woodyatt, L., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Wenzel, M., & Griffin, B. J. (2017). An Orientation to the psychology of self-forgiveness. In L. Woodyatt, E. L. Worthington Jr., M. Wenzel, & B. J. Griffin (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of self-forgiveness (Chapter 1). New York, NY: Springer.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., Griffin, B. J., & Wade, N. G. (2017). Group Intervention to Promote Self-Forgiveness. In L. Woodyatt, E. L. Worthington Jr., M. Wenzel, & B. J. Griffin (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of self-forgiveness (Chapter 13). New York, NY: Springer.
Zechmeister, J. S., & Romero, C. (2002). Victim and offender accounts of interpersonal conflict: autobiographical narratives of forgiveness and unforgiveness. Journal of personality and social psychology, 82(4), 675–686.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woodyatt, L., Wenzel, M., de Vel-Palumbo, M. (2017). Working Through Psychological Needs Following Transgressions to Arrive at Self-Forgiveness. In: Woodyatt, L., Worthington, Jr., E., Wenzel, M., Griffin, B. (eds) Handbook of the Psychology of Self-Forgiveness. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60573-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60573-9_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60572-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60573-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)