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Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1026/0012-1924.54.2.71

Zusammenfassung. Verzeihen dient der Bewältigung von Kränkungen und zwischenmenschlichen Konflikten. Es werden Definitionen und Operationalisierungen aus dem englischen Sprachraum vorgestellt. Die Entwicklung eines deutschsprachigen szenarienbasierten Instruments zur Erhebung der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen wird beschrieben. Es wird eine Differenzierung des Konstruktes in zwei Komponenten vorgeschlagen: (a) die Bereitschaft, anderen Menschen zu verzeihen, wenn diese ihre Tat bedauern, (b) die Bereitschaft, anderen Menschen zu verzeihen, wenn diese ihre Tat nicht bedauern. Die Messeigenschaften der neu entwickelten Skala wurden in fünf Studien an insgesamt 1824 Probanden untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Instrument gute psychometrische Eigenschaften besitzt. Die theoretische Differenzierung des Konstrukts wird empirisch bestätigt. Hinweise auf die Konstruktvalidität der Skala ergeben sich aus Zusammenhängen mit theoretisch einschlägigen Referenzkonstrukten: der habituellen Ärgerneigung, der Wahrnehmung und Klarheit über eigene und fremde Gefühle, positiver und negativer Affektivität, den fünf Persönlichkeitsfaktoren und sozialer Erwünschtheit. Für die Konstruktvalidität der Skala sprechen ferner konvergente Korrelationen mit anderen Maßen der Bereitschaft zu verzeihen.


Development and validation of a measure of willingness to forgive

Abstract. Forgiveness contributes to coping with interpersonal hurts and transgressions. Definitions and measures of the construct are provided. The development and validation of a new, scenario­based scale for measuring willingness to forgive is described. A conceptual distinction is proposed between (a) willingness to forgive a transgressor who regrets his behavior, and (b) willingness to forgive a transgressor who does not regret his fault. Data from five studies with a total sample of 1,824 participants affirm the psychometric quality of the scale and support the conceptual distinction of the construct with regard to the transgressor’s behavior (repentance versus nonrepentance). Evidence on the construct validity of the scale was obtained from its correlation with measures for theoretically related and unrelated constructs, i.e., trait anger, attention to and clarity of one’s own and other’s feelings, positive and negative affectivity, the five personality factors, and social desirability. The scale converges well with other measures of the same construct.

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