on a forgiveness instrument might have begun at different places. Person A might have become less forgiving
over time, but Person B might have become more forgiving over time. Also, attitudes and moods can fluctuate
following a transgression casting doubt on the validity of a single measurement. Thus, they suggested that trend
forgiveness might describe the best fit of a line through repeated assessments, and temporal forgiveness might assess
daily variations from the best-fit curve.
MEASURES REVIEWED HERE
This chapter focuses on measures of forgiveness that can be grouped into eight categories on the basis of their
content. We review 16 measures across those eight categories.
Forgiveness of a Human Offender for a Transgression
1.Enright Forgiveness Inventory ( Enright & Rique, 2004 )
2.Transgression-Related Inventory of Motivations ( McCullough, Rachal, Sandage, Worthington,
Brown, & Hight, 1998b )
3.Rye Forgiveness Scale ( Rye et al., 2001 )
4.Decisional Forgiveness Scale (DFS) and Emotional Forgiveness Scale (EFS) ( Worthington, Hook, Utsey,
Williams, & Neil, 2007 )
Chemical Measures
5.Cortisol
6.Oxytocin
Peripheral Physiological Measures
7.Heart Rate
8.Blood Pressure
9.Heart Rate Variability
10.Facial Electromyographic Measures
Central Physiological Measures
11.fMRI
Behavioral Measures
12.Resource Distribution Measure of State Forgiveness ( Carlisle et al., 2012 )
13.Defection in a Prisoner’s Dilemma as a Behavioral Measure of Forgiveness ( Exline, Baumeister, Bushman,
Campbell, & Finkel, 2004 , Study 5)
Disposition of Being Forgiven Consistently across Transgression Events, Time, and Relationships
14.Trait Forgivingness Scale ( Berry, Worthington, O’Connor, Parrott, & Wade, 2005 )
Measures of State Self-Forgiveness
15.State Self-Forgiveness Scale (SSFS; Wohl, DeShea, & Wahkinney, 2008 )
Measures of Trait Self-Forgivingness
16.Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS; Thompson et al., 2005 )
OVER VIEW OF THE MEASURES
The measurement of forgiveness is well-developed for research purposes. Given that forgiveness definitions
emphasize different aspects of forgiveness, measures have been developed that capture the aspects that are
highlighted in the competing definitions. Thus, researchers can focus on theoretically relevant aspects of forgive-
ness (or unforgiveness). We suggest that forgiveness is an internal experience that involves affect, cognition,476 17. MEASURES OF FORGIVENESS
IV. INTERPERSONAL STYLES