The role of personality and situational factors in forgiveness /

This study deals with personality and situational variables that influence forgiveness. The relations between empathy and forgiveness were studied, followed by the examination of the relation of these two variables to the Big Five personality traits, as well as honesty, absorption, the propensity to mystical experiences, and dissociation. Empathy was then tested as a mediating variable between the personality variables and forgiveness. Empathy and forgiveness were then studied in relation to childhood maltreatment. Finally, the effects of six different motivations to forgive were examined in relation to the personality variables. Participants were 142 undergraduate students recruited from the ftrst year psychology class at Brock University; 75% were either 18 or 19 years of age, and 84% were female. All of the variables were measured using self-report questionnaires. The relation between empathy and forgiveness was only partially replicated. In terms of personality, forgiveness was found to be related to honesty, emotionality, and agreeableness. Empathy at least partially mediated the relations between forgiveness and agreeableness, honesty and emotionality. Childhood maltreatment was negatively related to forgiveness, and positively related to openness to experience, absorption, and dissociation from reality, but not to the propensity for mystical experiences. Six different motivations for forgiveness emerged from an exploratory factor analysis. Out of these, Forgiveness to Promote Reconciliation was related to emotionality and dispositional empathy. Religious Forgiveness was related to honesty, emotionality, and mystical experiences. Forgiveness to Feel Better was related to honesty, emotionality, agreeableness, conscientiousness, absorption, mystical experiences, and empathy. Forgiveness to Assert Moral Superiority over the Injurer was negatively related to honesty, empathy, and positively related to extraversion. Forgiveness out of Fear was related to agreeableness. Finally, Altruistic Forgiveness was related to honesty, emotionality, and agreeableness, absorption and the propensity to mystical experiences. Altruistic Forgiveness correlated most highly with all the measures of forgiveness, followed by Forgiveness to Feel better. Altruistic forgiveness was also the motivation for forgiveness that correlated the highest with absorption.

Explorations and comparisons of actual, ideal, and ought forgiveness definitions : a Q-methodological study /

Numerous definitions of forgiveness have been proposed in the literature (e.g.. North, 1987; Enright, Freedman & Rique, 1998), most ofwhich are based on religious or philosophical notions, rather than on empirical evidence. Definitions employed by researchers have typically set very high standards for forgiveness. This research was designed to investigate the possibility that these definitions describe an ideal of forgiveness and may not reflect laypersons' beliefe and experiences. Using Higgins' Self-Discrepancy Theory as a fiamework, three types of forgiveness beliefs were investigated: actual, ideal, and ought Q-methodology (which permits intensive study ofphenomena in small samples) was employed to examine and compare participants' beliefs about forgiveness across these domains. Thirty participants (20 women), 25 to 78 years of age, were recruited firom the community. They were asked to sort a set of66 statements about forgiveness according to their level of agreement with each statement This process was repeated three times, with the goal of modelling participants' actual experiences, their ideals, and how they believed forgiveness ought to be. Three perspectives on forgiveness emerged across the domains: forgiveness as motivated by religious beliefs, reconciliation-focussed forgiveness, and conflicted forgiveness. These perspectives indicated that, for many participants, the definitions presented in the literature may coincide with their beliefs about how forgiveness would ideally be and should be, as well as with their experiences of forgiveness; however, a large number of participants' experiences of, and beliefs about, forgiveness do not conform to the standards set out in the literature, and to exclude these participants' experiences and beliefs would mean overlooking what forgiveness means to a large portion of people. Results of this study indicate that researchers need to keep an open mind about what forgiveness may mean to their participants.

Moral identity, youth engagement, and discussions with parents and peers /

The strength of adolescents' moral identity was examined in relation to their sense of social responsibility, frequency of community engagement, and interactions with parents and friends. Participants were 191 applicants to national youth conferences, ranging in age from 14-19, who completed a 40-minute survey. 76% of the participants were female. Social responsibility, community engagement, and discussion with parents and friends were measured using self-report questionnaires. Participants also reported on the importance of various values to themselves, their parents, and their friends, which were used to create an index of the degree of disagreement between the youth and their parents and friends. In addition, participants provided self-descriptions, which were used to measure moral identity with both a coding scheme and a ratings measure. Moral identity as measured by coding was not related to social responsibility, community engagement, or any other study variables, and thus did not appear to be a valid measure of moral identity. However, moral identity as measured by ratings was related to both social responsibility and community engagement, and thus appeared to be a valid measure. Neither disagreement nor discussion with friends was related to moral identity. However, disagreement with parents was positively related to moral identity ratings, and for girls only was negatively related to social responsibility. Furthermore, discussion with parents was positively related to moral identity for boys only. The hypothesis predicting a mediational model was not supported. Results were discussed in terms of theoretical positions on the role of parents and friends in children's moral development and suggestions for ftiture research were made.

Stress, social support, and health risk behaviours as mediators of the forgiveness-health relation /

The mediating roles of stress, social support, and health risk behaviours in the relationships between dispositional forgiveness and mental and physical health were examined. Participants were 748 undergraduate students (554 women, 194 men) entering their first year of studies at Brock University. Participants, ranging in age from 17 to 25 years, completed the Brock University First Year Health Study and were provided monetary compensation. Dispositional forgiveness, stress, social support, health risk behaviours, mental health, and physical health were measured using self-report methods. The data were analyzed separately for women and men because there were significant mean differences on many of the study'S variables. Analyses revealed that the mediated relationships between dispositional forgiveness and health were generally stronger for women than men. Stress was the most robust mediator of the forgiveness-health relation for both women and men. The only health risk behaviour that mediated the forgivenesshealth relation was physical fitness and this result was found for women only. Social support mediated several of the relationships between forgiveness and health but not others. Results were discussed with reference to the literature on forgiveness and health. Several directions for future research were offered, such as conducting longitudinal research designs to assess the direction of causality better, investigating moderator variables of the forgiveness-health relation, and building models, which incorporate multiple mediators using structural equation modelling techniques.

Moral reasoning and ethics in educational leadership /

School leaders face difficult decisions regarding discipline matters. Often, such decisions play an important role in determining the moral tone of the school and the health of the school community. Many stakeholders are affected by the outcome of such decisions. Codes of conduct, board and school policies, and discipline meetings are often shrouded under secrecy, making the discipline process mysterious. .; In this study I examined the process of moral reasoning. I sought to determine the extent to which school leaders were aware that they were involved in a process of moral reasoning, and ftirthermore, what kind of moral reasoning they practiced. As well, I investigated the ethical grounds and foundations underlying moral reasoning. Thus, in this study I probed the awareness of the process of moral reasoning and sought to find the ethical grounding of decision making. This qualitative study featured short field research. The process involved individual interviews with three different participants: school leaders of a public. Catholic, and an independent school. It found that each school leader practiced moral reasoning to varying degrees through the discipline process. It also explored the possible democratization of moral reasoning by linking to concepts such as fairness, due process, public accountability, and greater participation in the administering of discipline. This study has implications for practice, theory, and future research. The examination of school leaders as the primary focus for discipline matters opens the door to future research that could explore differences between the school systems and possibly other parties affected by moral reasoning in discipline cases.

The effect of social skills training on grade 3 students' self-esteem, moral development and perceptions of classroom environment

Two Grade 3 classes were used to study the effects of a formal social skills training program. Specifically, comparisons were made on self-esteem, classroom environment, and moral development to see whether changes occurred as a direct result of social skills training. One group participated in the social skills program, while the other group did not. It was hypothesized that formal social skills training would improve students' selfesteem, moral development, and the classroom environment. At the end of the program, however, data from class observations, teacher interviews, journal of the social skills training group teacher, and measures of self-esteem, classroom environment and moral development did not support this hypothesis. Although the social skills training group scored significantly higher in class cohesiveness, they did not show marked improvement in the other measures. In fact, in some measures (e.g., friction and competitiveness), they demonstrated greater scores at both pretest and posttests. The social skills training group was, however, able to vocalize and utilize the strategies of several skills which had been a focus of the program, suggesting that formal social skills training is a useful tool for presenting and reinforcing some specific behaviours.

The relationship between creativity and moral judgment

A sample of 50 male and female subjects ranging in age from 12 to 73 were divided into three groups according to the scale of maturity of moral judgment developed by Lawrence Kohlberg. Subjects were also tested on a measure of creativity developed by Torrance after the formulations of Guilford in order to test the hypothesis that the re^- lationship between creativity and maturity of moral judgment is curvilinear. Researchers have failed to develop any working hypothesis concerning the relationship between creativity and moral judgment or postulate any consistent theoretical framework concerning the possible relationship between these two constructs. The empirical investigation involved a scientific testing of a random selection of elementary subjects9 high school adolescents, and creative adults. Tests included Kohlberg8s Moral dilemmas and Guilford's Product Improvement Task. A trend analysis was conducted to reveal whether or not a curvilinear relationship existed between the independent variable (Moral Maturity Stages) and the de~ pe dent variable (creativity performance under each level). Curvilinear trends were observed in two out of four creativity subscales but were not statistically significant. It was concluded that these contradictory findings were due to the relatively small number of subjects tested, the narrow range or moral judgment scores, and the limited conception of creativity defined by the creativity measure used (The Product Improvement Task). It was suggested that an instrument assessing an identity status would be most useful as well as a creativity measure better suited for a theory of creativity essentially developmental in perspective.

Sermon : the question of war with Great Britain, examined upon moral and Christian principles /

Joseph Dana was also considered as the supposed author.

Sermon : the question of war with Great Britain, examined upon moral and Christian principles

Joseph Dana was also considered as the supposed author. Bibliogr. Printed by Snelling and Simons

Dispositional Forgiveness and Health in Romantic Relationships: An Exploration of Sex Differences, Actor Effects, and Partner Effects

The individual and dyadic associations between dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations and mental and physical health in individuals involved in romantic relationships were examined. Sex differences in the relationship between dispositional forgiveness and health were examined. Sex differences in the dyadic relationship between forgiveness and health were also examined. The dispositional forgiveness scores of 297 partners involved in a romantic relationship were used to predict their own as well as their partners' physical and mental health. Both members of the relationship separately completed an Internet-based questionnaire assessing personality traits, relationship variables, and physical and mental health. The couple was provided with monetary compensation. Analyses revealed that women's dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations were positively associated with their own physical and mental health. Similarly, men's dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations were positively associated with their own mental and physical health. At the individual level, there were no sex differences in the relationship between dispositional forgiveness and health, nor were there sex differences in men and women's reports of dispositional forgiveness. Analyses revealed that men's forgiveness of others and situations were positively associated with their female partners' mental health. There were no partner effects for women or for physical health. The implications of these results for research in the forgiveness-health literature and research on forgiveness in romantic relationships were discussed as were directions for future research.

Violent Video Game Playing, Moral Reasoning, and Attitudes Towards Violence in Adolescents: Is There a Connection?

In this study of 109 adolescents from the eighth grade of seven public elementary schools in Ontario, the relationship among adolescents’ violent video game playing patterns, habits and attitudes, their levels of moral reasoning, and their attitudes towards violence in real life was investigated. In addition, gender differences were addressed. The mixed-methodology was employed combining qualitative and quantitative data. The research results confirmed that playing video games in general is a very popular activity among those adolescents. Significant negative relationship was found between adolescents’ amount of time playing violent video games during the day and their scores on The Sociomoral Reflection Measure. Significant difference was also found between adolescents who play violent video games and those who do not play violent video games on their scores on The Attitudes Towards Violence Scale. Boys and girls significantly differed in the amount of playing video games during the day, the reasons for playing video games, their favourite video game choices, and their favourite video game character choices. Boys and girls also significantly differed on their choices of personality traits of selected video game characters, the identification with video game characters, and their mood experiences while playing video games. The findings are put into the educational context and the context of normal development, and suggestions are given for parents, for educators, and for future violent video game research.

The Influence of Arousal on Moral Decision-making for Individuals with and without Mild Head Injury

Recent research has shown that University students with a history of self-reported mild head injury (MHI) are more willing to endorse moral transgressions associated with personal, relative to impersonal, dilemmas (Chiappetta & Good, 2008). However, the terms 'personal' and 'impersonal' in these dilemmas have functionally confounded the 'intentionality' of the transgression with the 'personal impact' or 'outcome' of the transgression. In this study we used a modified version of these moral dilemmas to investigate decision-making and sympathetic nervous system responsivity. Forty-eight University students (24 with MHI, 24 with no-MHI) read 24 scenarios depicting moral dilemmas varying as a function of 'intentionality' of the act (deliberate or unintentional) and its 'outcome' (physical harm, no physical harm, non-moral) and were required to rate their willingness to engage in the act. Physiological indices of arousal (e.g., heart rate - HR) were recorded throughout. Additionally, participants completed several neurocognitive tests. Results indicated significantly lowered HR activity at baseline, prior to, and during (but not after) making a decision for each type of dilemma for participants with MHI compared to their non-injured cohort. Further, they were more likely than their cohort to authorize personal injuries that were deliberately induced. MHI history was also associated with better performance on tasks of cognitive flexibility and attention; while students' complaints of postconcussive symptoms and their social problem solving abilities did not differ as a function of MHI history. The results provide subtle support for the hypothesis that both emotional and cognitive information guide moral decision making in ambiguous and emotionally distressing situations. Persons with even a MHI have diminished physiological arousal that may reflect disruption to the neural pathways of the VMPFC/OFC similar to those with more severe injuries.

Forgiveness in Two Minds: Understanding Forgiveness Through Dual-Process Theory

In this thesis, I examined the relevance of dual-process theory to understanding forgiveness. Specifically, I argued that the internal conflict experienced by laypersons when forgiving (or finding themselves unable to forgive) and the discrepancies between existing definitions of forgiveness can currently be best understood through the lens of dual-process theory. Dual-process theory holds that individuals engage in two broad forms of mental processing corresponding to two systems, here referred to as System 1 and System 2. System 1 processing is automatic, unconscious, and operates through learned associations and heuristics. System 2 processing is effortful, conscious, and operates through rule-based and hypothetical thinking. Different definitions of forgiveness amongst both lay persons and scholars may reflect different processes within each system. Further, lay experiences with internal conflict concerning forgiveness may frequently result from processes within each system leading to different cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses. The study conducted for this thesis tested the hypotheses that processing within System 1 can directly affect one's likelihood to forgive, and that this effect is moderated by System 2 processing. I used subliminal conditioning to manipulate System 1 processing by creating positive or negative conditioned attitudes towards a hypothetical transgressor. I used working memory load (WML) to inhibit System 2 processing amongst half of the participants. The conditioning phase of the study failed and so no conclusions could be drawn regarding the roles of System 1 and System 2 in forgiveness. The implications of dual-process theory for forgiveness research and clinical practice, and directions for future research are discussed.

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Emotional Responding to Dyadic Discussions of a Disagreement as Predictors of Helping Related Subjective Well-Being in Older Mothers and Their Adult Daughters

The current study considered affect-related variables as predictors of the quality of helping relationships between older mothers and their adult daughters. Specifically, self-reported and observed emotional responses to the dyadic discussion of a disagreement between mothers and daughters, as well as baseline measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia were considered as predictors of mothers' and daughters' satisfaction with their helping relationships. Relationship satisfaction was measured by considering mothers' and daughters' subjective well-being specifically in regards to the help they gave and received. Overall, these variables predicted more variance in mothers' satisfaction with their helping relationships than daughters', and RSA (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was a stronger predictor than the self-reported or observed emotional reactions to the dyadic discussion of a disagreement. Implications of these findings and limitations to the current study are discussed.