Reasons to forgive. Lay persons conceptions or implicit theories

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Data gathered on adolescents and adults from general population, living in Buenos Aires City and its suburban area, as well as on prison inmates and theology students (N: 1715) are presented. Participants answered an open question: Is important for you to be able to forgive? Yes. No. Why? Subjects mostly admit that to forgive is important for them. For theology students forgiveness is a central theme of Christian thinking. A religious dimension is also present among prison inmates who are the only group that relates to forgive with loving someone. For younger people forgiveness allows to have </span>a second chance after making something wrong and facilitates feelings of inner peace. Men show a tendency to forgive in order to forget and being able to go on living as well as to achieve better social relationships; for women, it is necessary to forgive in order to be forgiven and forgiving is a characteristic related to intelligence. </p></div></div></div>

Abstract licence: CC BY

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