____7. If I encountered the person who wronged me
I would feel at peace.
____8. This person’s wrongful actions have kept me
from enjoying life. (R)
____9. I have been able to let go of my anger toward
the person who wronged me.
____10. I become depressed when I think of how I was
mistreated by this person. (R)
____11. I think that many of the emotional wounds
related to this person’s wrongful actions have
healed.
____12. I feel hatred whenever I think about the person
who wronged me. (R)
____13. I have compassion for the person who
wronged me.____14. I think my life is ruined because of this person’s
wrongful actions. (R)
____15. I hope the person who wronged me is treated
fairly by others in the future.
Notes :
Scoring Instructions:
First, reverse-score items marked ‘R’. To calculate RFS
total, add the values for all items. To create the subscales,
add items for each subscale as indicated below:
Absence of Negative subscale items: 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 14
Presence of Positive subscale items: 2, 6, 7, 13, 15
Reproduced with permission.
Decisional Forgiveness Scale (DFS) and Emotional Forgiveness Scale (EFS)
(Worthington et al., 2007a ).
Variable
The DFS and EFS are brief self-report measures of the extent to which one has made a decision to forgive an
offender and behave differently toward the person (i.e., the DFS) and has experienced emotional replacement of
negative emotions with positive emotions toward the offender (i.e., the EFS).
Description
The original versions of the DFS and EFS were developed as part of a master’s thesis ( Hook, 2007 ), and results
from that thesis and other independent studies were reported as part of the Positive Psychology Summit
(Worthington et al., 2007a ). A sample of N5679 undergraduates was split into samples of n5400 (sample 1A),
n5179 (sample 1B), and n5100 (sample 1C), and a new sample of N5298 (sample 2) was then collected. Each
item was rated from 1 5Strongly Disagre et o55Strongly Agree . On sample 1A, 15 decisional forgiveness and 37
emotional forgiveness items were subjected to PCAs with oblique rotations. Two components were found for the
DFS (Prosocial Intentions and Inhibition of Harmful Intentions; r5.40), and two components were found for the
EFS (Presence of Positive Emotion and Reduction of Negative Emotions; r5.50). Because the 4-item subscales for
the DFS and the two 4-item subscales for the EFS were correlated, the authors recommended typically using DFS
and EFS as two scales and not attending to their subscales unless specific hypotheses were examined.
Samples
Worthington et al. (2007a) examined the psychometric properties of the DFS and the EFS using the thesis
samples ( Hook, 2007 ), plus independent samples of students who participated in (a) a scenario study ( N5100);
(b) an ego depletion task ( N5100); and (c) an implicit measures test ( N562). Later, a dissertation adduced
evidence of the relationship of DFS and EFS scores to diastolic and systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pres-
sure, heart rate, and salivary cortisol in 60 adult women ( McCrocklin, 2009 ).
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Cronbach alpha coefficients for the DFS ranged from .80 to .83, and for the EFS ranged from .69 to .83
(Worthington et al., 2007a ).
Test/C0Retest
Both DFS ( r5.73) and EFS scores ( r5.73) were relatively stable over three weeks ( Worthington et al., 2007a ).484 17. MEASURES OF FORGIVENESS
IV. INTERPERSONAL STYLES