Abstract
The relationship between empathy and forgiveness was assessed in a sample of Mozambican wives. A sample of 225 wives was presented with 24 vignettes depicting an affair between a husband and a woman. Vignettes were composed of all combinations of three factors: the length of the marriage, the severity of the affair, and the presence and nature of apologies. Wives were asked to judge the extent to which, in such circumstances, they would be able to regain the ability to empathize with their husband and, later, the degree to which they would feel able to forgive him. Through cluster analysis, qualitatively different positions were found. For 47%, it was never easy either to regain empathy or to forgive. For 8%, it was always easy. For 28%, it depended on the severity of the affair and on the presence of apologies. For the remaining 18%, it also depended on the length of marriage. Overall, in 71% of the cases, positions were similar with regard to both, empathy and forgiveness. Nevertheless, in 29% of the cases, positions differed. Because for most wives empathy was thus very closely associated with forgiveness, the results suggest that empathy-centered psychological therapies can be considered as quite appropriate in the Mozambican context in situations in which women would like to forgive more or less severe transgressions. However, given that for 21% of the women the empathy–forgiveness association appeared to be much weaker, alternative therapies based on practices developed by local women’s associations should also be considered.
Impact and Implications
The relationship between empathy and forgiveness was assessed among Mozambican wives. They were presented with realistic stories depicting an affair between a husband and a woman and asked to put themselves in the offended wives’ shoes and judge the extent to which they would be able to regain the ability to empathize with (or forgive) their husband. In 71% of the cases, women who were able to empathize were also able to forgive. By showing that empathy-centered psychological therapies can be considered as appropriate in the Mozambican context in situations in which women would like to achieve forgiveness of more or less severe transgressions, the study contributes to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).
References
(2007). Interpersonal forgiveness among Kuwaiti adolescents and adults. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 24, 159–170. 10.1080/07388940701468385
(1982). Methods in information integration theory. New York, NY: Academic Press.
(2008). Unified social cognition. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
(2019). Moral science. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
(2011). Forgiveness-related motives: A structural and cross-cultural approach. Social Sciences Information Information Sur les Sciences Sociales, 50, 178–200. 10.1177/0539018411398418
(2006). Seeking forgiveness: Considering the role of moral emotions. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 34, 111–124. 10.1177/009164710603400201
(2007). Association of trauma and PTSD symptoms with openness to reconciliation and feelings of revenge among former Ugandan and Congolese child soldiers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298, 555–559. 10.1001/jama.298.5.555
(2015). El perdón ante transgresiones en las relaciones interpersonales [
Forgiving transgressions in interpersonal relationships ]. Psychosocial Intervention, 24, 71–78. 10.1016/j.psi.2015.05.001(1999). How to show that 9 > 221: Collect judgments in a between-subjects design. Psychological Methods, 4, 243–249. 10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.243
(2009). Insecure attachment and depressive symptoms: The mediating role of rumination, empathy, and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 276–280. 10.1016/j.paid.2008.10.016
(2005). Healing, reconciliation and the prevention of violence: A comment. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 335–337. 10.1521/jscp.24.3.335.65622
. (2018). The world factbook—Mozambique. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mz.html#People
(2008). Seeking forgiveness: Factor structure and relationships with personality and forgivingness. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 383–388. 10.1016/j.paid.2008.05.009
(2014). Pathways between attachment and marital satisfaction: The mediating roles of rumination, empathy, and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 70, 246–251. 10.1016/j.paid.2014.06.032
(2011). An examination of emotional empathy, attributions of stability, and the link between perceived remorse and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 392–397. 10.1016/j.paid.2010.10.031
(2017). Intergroup contact and reconciliation among Liberian refugees: A multilevel analysis in a multiple groups setting. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 23, 228–238. 10.1037/pac0000251
(2012). The relationship between trauma and forgiveness in post-conflict Sierra Leone. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4, 614–623. 10.1037/a0025470
. (1991).
The moral development of forgiveness . In W. KurtinesJ. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development (Vol. 1, pp. 123–152). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.(2015). Narcissism and lack of interpersonal forgiveness: The mediating role of state anger, state rumination, and state empathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 36–40. 10.1016/j.paid.2014.10.051
(2013). Facilitating forgiveness in the treatment of infidelity: An interpersonal model. Journal of Family Therapy, 35, 343–367.
(2006). Forgiveness in marriage: Current status and future directions. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 55, 415–427. 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2005.callf.x-i1
(2002). Forgiveness in marriage: The role of relationship quality, attributions, and empathy. Personal Relationships, 9, 27–37. 10.1111/1475-6811.00002
(2007). Ecological validity test of laboratory studies on information integration [Special Issue on Functional Measurement]. Teorie and Modelli, 12, 281–288.
(2005). Do we forgive physical aggression in the same way that we forgive psychological aggression? Aggressive Behavior, 31, 559–570. 10.1002/ab.20108
(1997). Forgiveness and its determinants in adolescents, adults, and elderly persons. Journal of Adult Development, 4, 209–220. 10.1007/BF02511412
(2017). Family reintegration of homeless in Maputo and Matola: A descriptive study. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 11, 25–30. 10.1186/s13033-017-0133-7
(2014). Mapping self-forgiveness attitudes among adults living in Ibero-American countries. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 3, 123–137. 10.1037/ipp0000013
(2014). Rates and predictors of mental stress in Rwanda: Investigating the impact of gender, persecution, readiness to reconcile and religiosity via a structural equation model. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 8, 37–55. 10.1186/1752-4458-8-37
(2013). Towards unveiling individual differences in different stages of information processing: A clustering-based approach. Quality and Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 47, 455–564. 10.1007/s11135-011-9529-7
(2015). Negative internal causal attributions of a specific offense and forgiveness. Personal Relationships, 22, 449–459. 10.1111/pere.12089
. (2018). Demografia e indicadores sociais [
Demography and social indicators ]. Retrieved from http://www.ine.gov.mz/estatisticas/estatisticas-demograficas-e-indicadores-sociais(2007). Conceptualizations of forgiveness: Collectivist-Congolese versus Individualist-French viewpoints. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 432–437. 10.1177/0022022107302312
(2001). Forgivingness: A Congo-France comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 504–511. 10.1177/0022022101032004009
(2013). Cognitive systems for revenge and forgiveness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 1–15. 10.1017/S0140525X11002160
(1998). Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: II. Theoretical elaboration and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1586–1603. 10.1037/0022-3514.75.6.1586
(1997). Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 321–336. 10.1037/0022-3514.73.2.321
(2012). Forgiveness, empathy and gender: A Malaysian perspective. Sex Roles, 67, 98–107. 10.1007/s11199-012-0144-4
(2010). Reconciliation sentiment among victims of genocide in Rwanda: Conceptualizations, and relationships with mental health. Social Indicators Research, 99, 25–39. 10.1007/s11205-009-9563-1
(2013). Unconditional forgiveness, reconciliation sentiment, and mental health among victims of genocide in Rwanda. Social Indicators Research, 113, 121–132. 10.1007/s11205-012-0085-x
(2003). Religious involvement and the forgiving personality. Journal of Personality, 71, 1–19. 10.1111/1467-6494.t01-1-00003
(2018). Assessing information integration processes: A comparison of findings obtained with between-subjects designs versus within-subjects designs. Quality and Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 52, 1977–1988. 10.1007/s11135-017-0592-6
(2004). Conceptualizations of forgiveness. European Psychologist, 9, 78–86. 10.1027/1016-9040.9.2.78
(2014).
Forgiveness . In K. Keith (Ed.), The encyclopedia of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 565–569). New York, NY: Psychology Press.(2016).
Forgiveness and religious tradition . In D. A. Leeming (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology and religion. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-642-27771-9_9365-1.pdf(in press).
Forgiveness in the Arab world and in central Africa . In E. Worthington, Jr. (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.(2005). Forgivingness and the paranoid personality style. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 765–772. 10.1016/j.paid.2004.06.001
(2010). Forgivingness: An Angolan-Portuguese comparison. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 20, 275–280. 10.1080/14330237.2010.10820376
(2013). The legitimacy of humanitarian military interventions: A preliminary study of Angolan and Mozambican university students’ views. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 2, 73–84. 10.1037/a0032629
(2013). Seeking forgiveness: Factor structure in samples from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Southern Europe. Universitas Psychologica: Panamerican Journal of Psychology, 12, 663–669. 10.11144/Javeriana.UPSY12-3.sffs
(2017). Exploring the psychological processes underlying interpersonal forgiveness: The superiority of motivated reasoning over empathy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 71, 16–30. 10.1016/j.jesp.2017.02.005
(2005). Marital quality, forgiveness, empathy, and rumination: A longitudinal analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 368–378. 10.1177/0146167204271597
(2010). Measuring empathy in couples: Validity and reliability of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for couples. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 146–157. 10.1080/00223890903510399
(2004). Trauma and PTSD symptoms in Rwanda: Implications for attitudes toward justice and reconciliation. Journal of the American Medical Association, 292, 602–612. 10.1001/jama.292.5.602
. (2018). Mozambique. Retrieved from https://en.populationdata.net/countries/mozambique/
(2012). The antecedents and consequences of interpersonal forgiveness: A meta-analytic review. Personal Relationships, 19, 304–325. 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01363.x
(2001). Simulation, scenarios, and emotional appraisal: Testing the convergence of real and imagined reactions to emotional stimuli. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1520–1532. 10.1177/01461672012711012
(2010). Comparison of two group interventions to promote forgiveness: Empathy as a mediator of change. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32, 35–57. 10.17744/mehc.32.1.274536n518571683
(2009). TwoMP: A MATLAB graphical user interface for two-mode partitioning. Behavioral Research Methods, 41, 507–514. 10.3758/BRM.41.2.507
(1995). An ethics for enemies: Forgiveness in politics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(2010). Survivalism and public opinion on criminality: A cross-national analysis of prostitution. Social Forces, 88, 1703–1726. 10.1353/sof.2010.0029
(2005). Healing, reconciliation, forgiving and the prevention of violence after genocide or mass killing: An intervention and its experimental evaluation in Rwanda. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 297–334. 10.1521/jscp.24.3.297.65617
(2017). Traumatic stress symptoms, forgiveness, and meaning in life in four traumatized regions of the world. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, 6, 5–16. 10.1037/ipp0000064
. (2015). Corruption perceptions index 2015. Retrieved from http://www.transparency.org/country#MOZ
(2007). Forgiveness for intimate partner violence: The influence of victim and offender variables. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 653–664. 10.1016/j.paid.2006.08.017
(1999). No future without forgiveness. New York, NY: Doubleday.
(2014). Gender, dependency and guilt in intimate relationship conflict among Spanish couples. Sex Roles, 70, 496–505. 10.1007/s11199-014-0351-2
(2013). The effect of sex knowledge, parent-child attachment, and family characteristics on intimate relationship satisfaction of Mozambican students. Sexuality and Culture, 15, 234–242.
(2015). Sexuality, love and physical attractiveness: Euro-Western vs. Southern Africa perspectives. Berlin, Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.
(2018). Would Mozambican women really “tolerate” their husbands’ extramarital sexual relationships as socially recommended? Sexuality and Culture, 22, 1263–1278. 10.1007/s12119-018-9520-8
(2014). The characteristics of the violence against women in Mozambique. Health, 6, 1589–1601. 10.4236/health.2014.613192
(2014). Multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships among Mozambican women from high socio-economic status and with high education degrees: Involvement motives. Psychology, 5, 1260–1267. 10.4236/psych.2014.510138
(2014). The practice of puxa-puxa among Mozambican women: A systematic inventory of motives. Journal of Sex Research, 51, 852–862. 10.1080/00224499.2013.795925
(2018). Mapping Mozambican people’s views on corruption amnesty laws. Social Sciences Information, 58, 84–102. 10.1177/0539018419832262
(2013).
Motivational interviewing and client-centered therapy . In H. D. Cornelius-WhiteR. Motschnig-PitrikM. Lux (Eds.), Interdisciplinary applications of the person-centered approach (pp. 43–47). New York, NY: Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4614-7144-8_4(2015). Trait emotional intelligence, forgiveness, and gratitude in Cape Verdean and Portuguese students. South African Journal of Psychology, 45, 93–101. 10.1177/0081246314546347
(2008).
Between conflict and reconciliation: Toward a theory of peaceful coexistence . In A. NadlerT. E. MalloyJ. D. Fisher (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup reconciliation (pp. 423–446). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300314.003.0019. (2018). AIDS statistics: Mozambique. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/countries/moz/en/
(2010). A psycho-educational intervention to promote forgiveness in Christians in the Philippines. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 32, 75–93. 10.17744/mehc.32.1.t3677072811lj864
(2004). Forgiveness is an emotion-focused coping strategy that can reduce health risks and promote health resilience: Theory, review, and hypotheses. Psychology and Health, 19, 385–405. 10.1080/0887044042000196674
(2012). The effect of empathy on cooperation, forgiveness, and “returning good for evil” in the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Public Personnel Management, 41, 105–115. 10.1177/009102601204100510
