Conditional or Unconditional Forgiveness? An Instrument to Measure the Conditionality of Forgiveness

Abstract

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Among the beliefs and concepts people hold about the nature of forgiveness, their notions of conditionality and unconditionality have not received sufficient study. The concept of conditional forgiveness posits that before forgiveness can be granted, the offender must take certain steps and meet specific conditions. From an unconditional forgiveness concept, the victim can forgive independently of the behavior of the wrongdoer. Hence, the aim of our study has been to develop a strong psychometric instrument to measure the beliefs people hold about the conditionality of forgiveness. This article presents the development and validation of a tool to measure these beliefs. Study 1 was comprised of 181 participants, whilst 492 conformed Study 2 and 109 took part in Study 3. Internal consistency and validity were analyzed. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted, along with correlational analysis to test convergent validity, stability and prediction capability. Results show a two-dimensional structure of the Conditional Unconditional Forgiveness Scale, indicating the appropriateness of this tool to assess beliefs about the conditionality of forgiveness. The belief in the unconditional nature of forgiveness showed positive and significant correlations with all the measurements of offense-specific forgiveness. On the other hand, the belief that forgiveness should be conditional showed lower correlations with all the forgiveness measurements. Not only the ultimate level of forgiveness the subjects experienced, but their emotional experience of the process as well can be very different depending on their views of forgiveness, among them their beliefs about conditionality.