behavioral intentions, unforgiving motives, benevolent motives, positive aspects and negative aspects. One can
find measures with good psychometric properties that adequately assess each component of forgiveness.
In this chapter, we review the psychometric adequacy of five self-report instruments of different aspects of for-
giving transgressions. The most commonly used measures include the Transgression-Related Interpersonal
Motivations (TRIM; McCullough et al., 1998b) and the Enright Forgiveness Scale ( Enright & Rique, 2004 ). The
Rye Forgiveness Scale and Decisional and Emotional Forgiveness Scales have been used far less but are important
for researchers who differentiate those theoretically relevant components of the experience of forgiving.
Some chemical markers of forgiveness have also been investigated. Cortisol and oxytocin are potential chemical
measures of forgiveness, but other chemical markers have also been assessed (see Temoshok & Wald, 2005 ). Most of
the chemical markers are based on a stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness ( Strelan & Covic, 2006; Worthington,
2006). However, the measurement of oxytocin is also derived from evolutionary ( McCullough, 2008 ) and relationship
(Paleari et al., 2009 ) theories. We focus on cortisol and oxytocin.
Both unforgiveness and forgiveness are manifested in the body. Thus, physiological indices of stress and relief
from stress are markers that can suggest when forgiveness has or has not occurred. The problem with physiologi-
cal indices is usually their lack of specificity. If unforgiveness is conceptualized as a stress response, the sympa-
thetic nervous system is involved in experiencing transgressions and in remembering or ruminating about them.
If people forgive, the stress response is ameliorated. However, a stress response could also be ameliorated
through distraction, psychological defenses, and even successful revenge. Central nervous system responding
might also be patterned when one experiences transgressions and forgives. We review research by Farrow et al.
(2001) as they try to disentangle the central nervous system patterns associated with holding grudges, experienc-
ing empathy, and making judgments of forgivability.
Forgiveness occurs in interpersonal contexts. People act on their experiences of unforgiveness or forgiveness.
Some experimental paradigms allow us to infer forgiveness. Behavioral manifestations of internal experiences of
forgiveness are often put forth as a way to troubleshoot social desirability concerns of self-report measures, but
they are still open to falsification by a prevaricating victim. Nevertheless, we review several laboratory methods
for assessing forgiveness-consistent behavior. These include a resource distribution task as a measure of forgive-
ness ( Carlisle et al., 2012 ) and defection within a Prisoner’s Dilemma game ( Exline et al., 2004 ).
In addition, we review two measures of trait forgivingness. One measure involves responses to 10 face-valid
items ( Berry et al., 2005 ). A second ( Thompson et al., 2005 ) includes three subscales /C0dispositional forgiveness
of others, of self, and of situations.
Whereas forgiveness of others occurs when one has been hurt or offended, forgiveness of self typically has
more to do with being an offender of others in ways that results in guilt, shame, remorse, and lowered self-
esteem. Self-forgiveness might also occur after self-condemnation for failing to live up to one’s own standards.
Because interest in self-forgiveness lagged behind interest in forgiving others ( Fehr, Gelfand, & Nag, 2010 ),
so did development of theories (see Fisher & Exline, 2006; Hall & Fincham, 2005 ) and measures. We review
one measure of state forgiveness of self ( Wohl et al., 2008 ) and one measure of trait self-forgivingness
(Thompson et al., 2005 ).
STATES OF FORGIVENESS
Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI)
(Enright & Rique, 2004; Subkoviak, Enright, Wu, & Gassin, 1995 ).
Variable
The EFI assesses the degree to which an individual forgives an offender who has hurt him or her deeply
and unfairly.
Description
The EFI was one of the first measures of forgiveness developed. The EFI was constructed to assess positive
and negative affect, behavior, and cognition toward to offender as a consequence of a particular offence, though
it can be used without reference to the particular offence to assess forgiveness of the offender.
Enright’s team generated 150 items for the EFI /C025 for each of six key definitional domains including: absence
of negative affect (e.g. hostility), presence of positive affect (e.g., warmth), absence of negative cognition477 STATES OF FORGIVENESS
IV. INTERPERSONAL STYLES