Archive for March, 2025
Dr. Robert Enright and IFI colleagues featured in recent edition of APA Journal
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Robert Enright was the special issue editor for the first issue of 2025 in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. His colleagues and he published the centerpiece article on what they call the “definitional drift” in how researchers understand the moral construct of forgiveness. There are at least eight different definitions of forgiveness in the published literature, most of which are philosophically incorrect. The central article was followed by commentaries from three philosophers and three psychologists and a final comment by Robert Enright, Jichan Kim, and Jacqueline Song. The centerpiece and final article of the special issue are these:
Song, J., Enright, R.D., & Kim, J. (2025). Definitional drift within the science of forgiveness: The dangers of avoiding philosophical analyses. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 45(1), 3-24. Note: This is the centerpiece article for a special issue on the definition of forgiveness within psychology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/teo0000278
Enright, R.D., Kim, J., & Song, J. (2025). Our hope that definitional drift in forgiveness will cease from drifting: Our comments on the six commentaries. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 45(1), 65-71. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/teo0000306
Dr. Enright Gives Keynote Address at Restorative Justice Conference
Dr. Robert Enright
Dr. Robert Enright gave the keynote address at the national restorative justice conference, Embracing the Circle Conference, at Stranmillis University College, Belfast, Northern Ireland, on February 5, 2025. The address was entitled Developing teachers and students as transmitters of forgiveness. One of his main points is that restorative justice primarily is centered on dialogue. Yet, if students or adults are dialoguing with resentment in the heart, then the conversation likely will be less effective than when people have forgiving and, therefore, compassionate hearts. In other words, people can be civil when they are face-to-face at a peace table, but if there is deep anger in the heart, this can fester once those who are dialoguing leave the table. He encouraged those who emphasize restorative justice to consider changing hearts prior to meeting for dialogue. That conversation might bear more fruit between and among people.
I am a university student who will be conducting research in the future. I am quite interested in whether there are studies of forgiveness interventions done with children. If so, where can I find some of these resources?
Yes, there has been extensive research on forgiveness education for children and adolescents. An extensive literature review across 10 different world cultures was published, showing that as students learn about forgiveness, they tend to increase their forgiveness of those who hurt them and decrease their anger.
Here is a reference to that journal article, which is in open access:
Rapp, H., Wang Xu, J., & Enright, R.D. (2022). A meta-analysis of forgiveness education interventions’ effects on forgiveness and anger in children and adolescents. Child Development, 93, 1249-1269. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13771
Here is an essay about the importance of introducing forgiveness education to students who live in conflict zones of the world:
Renewing War-Torn Communities Through Forgiveness Education, April 20, 2017
Do you think it is a good idea to “forgive and forget”? It seems to me that if we completely forget, then we are open to the injustices experienced before. Maybe we remember and, at the same time, not dwell on the person’s actions.
You show insight here as you answer your own question. I use the expression, “Forgive and remember in new ways.” In other words, we do not develop a kind of moral amnesia in which we completely forget. We remember so that it does not happen again, but we remember without the burning anger that can be disruptive to the person who was treated unfairly.
I want to consider self-forgiveness. Do any of your publications focus on this?
Yes, and I would recommend the book 8 Keys to Forgiveness, published in 2015. The seventh “key” in the book discusses the controversies surrounding self-forgiveness, what self-forgiveness is, and how to go about forgiving yourself.
