Forgiveness, Apology, and Communicative Responses to Hurtful Events

Data from 263 individuals who had been hurt by something a dating partner said or did offered support for the interpersonal forgiveness model-forgiveness associated positively with integrative communication and negatively with de-escalation and distributive communication. When hurt individuals believed the partner had sincerely apologized they were more likely to grant forgiveness and report using the direct strategies of integrative and distributive communication, and less likely to report using de-escalation and loyalty. Among the various hurtful events investigated, breaking up with the partner and being sexually unfaithful were reportedly the least forgivable offenses.