Tagged: “forgiveness research”
What was your biggest surprise when you started to do research on forgiveness therapy?
I would say the biggest surprise was how effective forgiveness therapy is in the context of very deep trauma caused by other people’s unfairness. Forgiveness therapy seems to be even more effective in reducing clinical levels of anger, anxiety, and depression than other models of psychotherapy that preceded forgiveness therapy within the social sciences. As just one example, the Freedman and Enright (1996) study showed that incest survivors, upon forgiving, went from clinical levels of depression to non-depressed status and this continued at the one-year follow-up. The reference to this work is as follows:
Freedman, S. R., & Enright, R. D. (1996). Forgiveness as an intervention goal with incest survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(5), 983-992.
IFI Earns “Top Website 2022” Award
The International Forgiveness Institute’s website, a global resource for Forgiveness Education and Forgiveness Therapy information, has been named one of the Internet’s best websites of 2022 by TheGoodEstate.
The TGE-AWARD 🏆 – The Best Websites of 2022
Officially called “The TGE-Award,” the annual recognition is based on a point system that evaluates four unique site elements:
- User Experience (UX) / Usability;
- Privacy & Security;
- Information Content & Research; and,
- Services & Communication.
The IFI earned a remarkable 39 out of a possible 40 points in the multi-stage selection, survey, and rating procedure that was conducted by a team of US web experts. Only premier websites selected for the award can display the “Top Website 2022” quality emblem. Newspapers, trade magazines, portals, and foreign websites are not eligible for the award.
The IFI website is one of the most expansive forgiveness resources that exists anywhere in the world. Originally developed and moved online in 2011, the IFI website’s current iteration was built and customized two years ago by Meegaan Technologies, a website and mobile app design and development company in New Delhi, India. In addition to a robust index of 67 unique subject pages, the website features more than 2,273 separate blog posts.
For details about The Best Websites of 2022 Award selection process and evaluation criteria, visit TheGoodEstate website—a multi-thematic review website where users can find high quality information about all kinds of digital and physical products. TheGoodEstate is a project of Global Commerce Media.
What is the evidence that children can be taught to forgive? Is there any evidence that when children learn about forgiveness that they actually begin to forgive those who have hurt them?
Yes, there now are scientifically-based forgiveness programs, many of which focus on stories and story characters who experience conflict and learn to resolved those conflicts. The research shows that children and adolescents, when given a sufficient amount of time (12 or more weeks) to think about forgiveness, actually forgive to a deeper level than before they had these programs. Here is a reference to a journal article showing this to be the case: 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.
Announcing the International Conference on Forgiving and Being Forgiven – Feb. 1-2, 2023
The First International Conference on Forgiving and Being Forgiven within an Inter/Intra Cultural Perspective has been scheduled for February 1-2, 2023, at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Registration is now open and free.
While the concept of forgiveness has been advanced in recent years via multiple fields of study–psychology, sociology, anthropology, moral philosophy, religion studies, ethics, and others–the topic is still expanding. This conference, according to its organizers, “will strive to deepen our understandings of the concept.” The benefits, obstacles, and risks that can result from the experience of forgiveness will be explored from a multi-cultural perspective.
Keynote speakers include some of the world’s leading forgiveness practitioners:
- Dr. Robert Enright, founder of Forgiveness Therapy and K-12 Forgiveness Education as well as co-founder of the International Forgiveness Institute.
- Ms. Marina Cantacuzino, founder of The Forgiveness Project, a UK-based charity that works with both victims/survivors and former perpetrators.
- Dr. Suzanne Freedman, Educational Psychology Professor at the University of Northern Iowa and Forgiveness Education curriculum developer.
The conference organizing committee, representing educational institutions in four countries, has also launched its call for papers. The call is directed to scholars, experts and practitioners in relevant fields who can address forgiveness as a process and an experience within an intra/intercultural context. Abstracts of up to 300 words must be submitted by Nov. 30, 2022.
Attendance at the conference is absolutely free but space is limited.
Agape Love and Forgiveness Conference Speaker Videos Available in Four Languages
Speaker videos from the International Educational Conference on Agape Love and Forgiveness, held July 19-20 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, (funded by the John Templeton Foundation) can now be viewed online absolutely free in four languages–Arabic, English, Hebrew, and Mandarin–using the links below.
The 26 professionally-produced presentations feature educators from Northern Ireland, Israel (both Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking), Taiwan, the Philippines, and the US. They describe their experiences teaching agape love and forgiveness to their 5th grade students and outline creative Forgiveness Education teaching techniques.
