Interpersonal Transgressions Research Articles

The lives of others: Third parties’ responses to others’ injustice.

This research takes a moral perspective to studying third parties' reactions to injustice as a function of their moral identity. Drawing from theories of deontic justice, moral intuition, moral heuristics, and moral identity, we develop and test a model of the moral underpinnings of third parties' reactions to injustice. First, we compare third parties' responses with interpersonal, distributive, and procedural justice violations. We hypothesize that third parties are more likely to intuit that interpersonal justice violations are morally wrong, compared with distributive and procedural justice violations. As a result, third parties are more likely to experience stronger moral anger and punish violators in response to interpersonal transgressions compared with distributive and procedural justice transgressions. Second, we test the proposition that third parties with a strong moral identity will react more strongly to justice violations than third parties with a comparatively weak moral identity. Results from 3 studies support these predictions.

Interpersonal Transgressions and Interest in Spiritual Activities: The Role of Narcissism

As levels of narcissism rise among Americans, it is important to understand how being narcissistic affects individuals’ day-to-day lives. One domain in which narcissism may have particularly interesting effects is individuals’ spirituality. When interpersonal expectations have been violated, individuals experience a variety of emotions. Chief among these emotions is guilt, which is linked both thematically and empirically to many aspects of Western religion. Given narcissism’s complex relationship with guilt, it is important to investigate how narcissists may react to failings in the interpersonal domain, particularly in a spiritual context. The current study investigated the effects of a simulated interpersonal failing on narcissists’ interest in a variety of spiritual behaviors, including prayer, seeking spiritual guidance, and participating in spiritual activities aimed at self-enhancement. After reading a scenario designed to induce feelings associated with interpersonal failings, participants reported their interest in a variety of religious activities, including prayer. Results indicated that the manipulation tended to decrease interest in a variety of spiritual activities across the sample, but that these effects were only robust among participants high in narcissism.

Can money heal all wounds? Social exchange norm modulates the preference for monetary versus social compensation.

Compensation is a kind of pro-social behavior that can restore a social relationship jeopardized by interpersonal transgression. The effectiveness of a certain compensation strategy (e.g., repaying money, sharing loss, etc.) may vary as a function of the social norm/relationship. Previous studies have shown that two types of norms (or relationships), monetary/exchange and social/communal, differentially characterize people’s appraisal of and response to social exchanges. In this study, we investigated how individual differences in preference for these norms affect individuals’ perception of others’ as well as the selection of their own reciprocal behaviors. In a two-phase experiment with interpersonal transgression, we asked the participant to perform a dot-estimation task with two partners who occasionally and unintentionally inflicted noise stimulation upon the participant (first phase). As compensation one partner gave money to the participant 80% of the time (the monetary partner) and the other bore the noise for the participant 80% of the time (the social partner). Results showed that the individuals’ preference for compensation (repaying money versus bearing noise) affected their relationship (exchange versus communal) with the partners adopting different compensation strategies: participants tended to form communal relationships and felt closer to the partner whose compensation strategy matched their own preference. The participants could be differentiated into a social group, who tended to form communal relationship with the social partner, and a monetary group, who tended to form communal relationship with the monetary partner. In the second phase of the experiment, when the participants became transgressors and were asked to compensate for their transgression with money, the social group offered more compensation to the social partners than to the monetary partners, while the monetary group compensated less than the social group in general and showed no difference in their offers to the monetary and social partners. These findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of compensation varies as a function of individuals’ preference for communal versus monetary norm and that monetary compensation alone does not heal all wounds.

Correction: Yu et al., Neural Substrates of Intention-Consequence Integration and Its Impact on Reactive Punishment in Interpersonal Transgression

Correction: Yu et al., Neural Substrates of Intention-Consequence Integration and Its Impact on Reactive Punishment in Interpersonal Transgression

Neural substrates of intention--consequence integration and its impact on reactive punishment in interpersonal transgression.

When evaluating interpersonal transgressions, people take into account both the consequential damage and the intention of the agent. The intention and consequence, however, do not always match, as is the case with accidents and failed attempts. We combined an interactive game and functional MRI to investigate the neural substrates underlying the processing of intention and consequence, and its bearing on reactive punishment. The participant interacted with anonymous partners, who decided to deliver pain stimulation either to himself/herself or to the participant to earn a monetary reward. In some cases, the decision was reversed by the computer. After pain delivery, the partner's intention was revealed. Unbeknownst to the partner, the participant was then allowed to punish the partner by reducing his/her monetary reward. Behaviorally, the punishment was lower in the accidental condition (unintended harm relative to intended harm) but higher in the failed-attempt condition (unintended no-harm relative to intended no-harm). Neurally, the left amygdala/hippocampus was activated in the conditions with blameworthy intention (i.e., intentional harm and failed attempt). The accidental (relative to intentional) harm activated the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and the anterior inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), while the failed attempt (relative to genuine no-harm) activated the anterior insula (AI) and the posterior IFG. Effective connectivity analysis revealed that in the unintentional conditions (i.e., accidental and failed attempt) the IFG received input from the TPJ and AI, and sent regulatory signals to the amygdala. These findings demonstrate that the processing of intention may gate the emotional responses to transgression and regulate subsequent reactive punishment.

Forgivingness, Forgivability, and Relationship‐Specific Effects in Responses to Transgressions in Indian Families

To advance understanding of conflict in families, responses to interpersonal transgressions were obtained from the perspective of the victim (transgression‐related interpersonal motivations [TRIMs]) and transgressor (perceived transgression‐related interpersonal motivations [PTRIMs]) in a sample of Indian families (N = 101). Mother, father, and a 12‐ to 14‐year‐old daughter indicated how he or she typically responds to transgressions by each of the other two family members, and how the two other family members perceived motivations toward the respondent following interpersonal transgressions. Social relations modeling showed strong actor effects for TRIMs and PTRIMs for all family members. Partner effects and relationship effects were appreciable for children but largely absent for mothers and fathers. Agreeableness and neuroticism correlated with motivations of forgivingness and forgivability, providing evidence for the dispositional nature of transgression‐related motivations. Analyses demonstrate the necessity of modeling forgiveness within a family context. The application of these findings is discussed.

Relationship value promotes costly apology-making: testing the valuable relationships hypothesis from the perpetrator's perspective

The valuable relationships hypothesis posits that people are inclined to reconcile with their valuable-relationship partners. Focusing on a particular type of credible conciliatory signal (i.e., costly apology), the present study tested this hypothesis from the perpetrator's perspective. In studies 1 and 2, after imagining that they had committed an interpersonal transgression against one of their real friends, participants (N=529 and 311 in studies 1 and 2, respectively) rated their willingness to incur a cost in order to apologize to the victim. Apology cost was operationalized as “canceling plans to make an apology as soon as possible” in study 1, and as “offering compensation” in study 2. The results showed that the instrumentality of the partner to achieving the participants' goals would increase their willingness to make a costly apology, after controlling for the participants' sex, version of the transgression scenario, closeness to the victim, and expected forgiveness of the victim. To ensure the external validity of this finding, studies 3 and 4 asked participants to recall one of their interpersonal transgression experiences, and to report whether they had offered compensation for it (N=190 and 224 in studies 3 and 4, respectively). Study 3 confirmed the hypothesis, while study 4 did not directly support it. However, study 4 did show that participants were more willing to reconcile with their valuable partners. Taken together, these results indicate that the valuable relationships hypothesis applies not only to victims, but also to their perpetrators as well.

Presenting a Self-Compassionate Image After an Interpersonal Transgression

Two studies investigate the presentation of self-compassion following an interpersonal transgression. In study 1 (N = 228), participants imagined letting someone down. Self-compassionate participants were less likely to endorse self-critical statements and more likely to endorse self-compassionate statements. Study 2 (N = 208) investigated people's preference for self-compassionate versus self-critical statements after someone let them down. Less self-compassionate participants preferred and were more likely to forgive someone who made self-critical statements. More self-compassionate participants preferred self-compassionate responses and were just as likely to forgive someone regardless of the type of response. These findings support the hypothesis that self-compassion leads to more self-compassionate presentations and presents a more nuanced understanding of responses to self-compassionate and self-critical presentations in an apology context.

Negative Feelings About Interpersonal Transgressions: A Comprehensive Overview for Secular and Religious PsychologistsNegative Feelings About Interpersonal Transgressions: A Comprehensive Overview for Secular and Religious Psychologists

Negative Feelings About Interpersonal Transgressions: A Comprehensive Overview for Secular and Religious PsychologistsNegative Feelings About Interpersonal Transgressions: A Comprehensive Overview for Secular and Religious Psychologists

Revenge and psychological adjustment after homicidal loss.

Feelings of revenge are a common human response to being hurt by others. Among crime victims of severe sexual or physical violence, significant correlations have been reported between revenge and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Homicide is one of the most severe forms of interpersonal violence. It is therefore likely that individuals bereaved by homicide experience high levels of revenge, which may hamper efforts to cope with traumatic loss. The relationship between revenge and psychological adjustment following homicidal loss has not yet been empirically examined. In the current cross-sectional study, we used self-report data from 331 spouses, family members and friends of homicide victims to examine the relationships between dispositional revenge and situational revenge on the one hand and symptom-levels of PTSD and complicated grief, as well as indices of positive functioning, on the other hand. Furthermore, the association between revenge and socio-demographic and offense-related factors was examined. Participants were recruited from a governmental support organization, a website with information for homicidally bereaved individuals, and members of support groups. Levels of both dispositional and situational revenge were positively associated with symptoms of PTSD and complicated grief, and negatively with positive functioning. Participants reported significantly less situational revenge in cases where the perpetrator was a direct family member than cases where the perpetrator was an indirect family member, friend, or someone unknown. Homicidally bereaved individuals reported more situational revenge, but not more dispositional revenge than a sample of students who had experienced relatively mild interpersonal transgressions.

Associations between obsessive–compulsive symptoms, revenge, and the perception of interpersonal transgressions

Anger and aggression have only recently gained center stage in research on obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). An investigation of obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms focusing on the outcome of unresolved anger (i.e., revenge), however, is absent from the literature. The objective of the present research was therefore to provide a first step towards filling this gap and, hence, to systematically examine the associations between OC symptoms and different aspects of revenge (i.e., attitudes, dispositions, motivations). In three independent studies with nonclinical participants (N=504), we tested the hypothesis that OC symptoms relate to greater revenge. Individuals high in OC symptoms reported more positive attitudes toward revenge (Study 1), scored higher on a measure of trait revenge (Study 2), and reported increased revenge motivation regarding a real-life transgressor (Study 3). Furthermore, Study 4 (N=175) demonstrated that individuals high in OC symptoms perceived interpersonal transgressions more frequently in their daily lives. OC symptoms were positively related to the number of transgressions that respondents disclosed. Our results suggest that revenge and interpersonal hurt play a significant role in OCD.

Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health, Stress Coping Strategies, and Attitudes Toward Violence: Findings From a High-Risk Sample

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a universal yoga-based social-emotional wellness promotion program, Transformative Life Skills, on indicators of adolescent emotional distress, prosocial behavior, and attitudes toward violence in a high-risk sample. Participants included 49 students attending an alternative education school in an urban inner-city school district. Results indicated that students who participated in the Transformative Life Skills program demonstrated significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and global psychological distress. Significant reductions in rumination, intrusive thoughts, physical arousal, and emotional arousal were reported as well. Students exposed to Transformative Life Skills reported being significantly less likely to endorse revenge-motivation orientations in response to interpersonal transgressions and reported overall less hostility than did students in the comparison condition. No significant improvements in somatization or general affect were found. Results of this pilot study provide evidence of the potential for Transformative Life Skills to influence important student social-emotional outcomes among high-risk youth. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Relational utility as a moderator of guilt in social interactions.

The capacity to experience guilt is assumed to benefit individuals, as the rewards of repeated, cooperative interactions are likely to exceed the rewards of acting selfishly. If that assumption is true, the extent to which people experience guilt over interpersonal transgressions should at least partly depend on the utility of another person for the attainment of personal goal(s) through social interaction (relational utility). Three experiments confirmed the relational utility hypothesis by showing that people felt guiltier (a) over excluding someone from a fun game if this person could subsequently distribute more money in a dictator game, (b) over hypothetical social transgressions toward a person who was instrumental to the attainment of a salient goal than toward a person who was not instrumental to the attainment of that goal and toward the same person when no goal was salient, and (c) over a low contribution in a social dilemma game if they were more dependent on their group members for performing well in a subsequent debating contest. Closeness with the other person, differences in severity of the transgression, and strategic motives for expressing guilt were consistently excluded as alternative accounts of the effects. By showing that relational utility may affect guilt, these findings (a) provide support for the individual level function of guilt; (b) extend research on the antecedents of guilt in social interactions, which mainly focused on retrospective appraisals; and (c) bear implications for the status of guilt as a moral emotion.

Feeling Both Victim and Perpetrator

Victimized versus perpetrating individuals or groups are known to experience enhanced needs for empowerment or acceptance, respectively. The present research examined the emotional needs and consequent anti- and prosocial behaviors (e.g., vengefulness vs. helpfulness) of individuals or groups serving both as victims and perpetrators simultaneously ("duals"). Focusing on interpersonal transgressions, Study 1 used variations of the dictator game to induce participants with victimization, perpetration, duality, or none (control). Duals showed heightened needs for both empowerment and acceptance and equal willingness to reconcile following either empowering or accepting messages from their adversaries. However, duals' need for empowerment overrode their need for acceptance in determining behavior. Similar to victims, and unlike perpetrators, duals showed greater antisocial (rather than prosocial) behavior. Study 2 replicated this pattern on the intergroup level, inducing Israeli Jews with victimization, perpetration, or duality using a recall task referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

A needs-based perspective on self-forgiveness: Addressing threat to moral identity as a means of encouraging interpersonal and intrapersonal restoration

Committing an offense creates psychological need within a victim and offender that can act as barriers to reconciliation. This paper examines the process of an offender addressing these needs independent of a victim's response in order to facilitate a process of self-forgiveness that promotes reconciliation and self-trust. We present two studies involving interventions following recent real-life interpersonal transgressions. Results suggest that meeting an offender's need for moral identity through the affirmation of the values violated by the offense, but not affirmation of belonging (Study 1), or affirmation of unrelated values (Study 2) increased genuine self-forgiveness, through shame acknowledgment. This process had downstream benefits for reconciliation and self-trust at one week follow-up.

Humorous Communication and Its Effectiveness in Coping With Interpersonal Transgressions

Interpersonal transgressions can have a profoundly negative impact on individuals in relationships, as well as on the relationship itself. The transactional model of emotion and coping was used to investigate the intra- and interpersonal benefits of humor enactment on relationship satisfaction following an interpersonal transgression. One hundred twenty-seven participants (44.1% were men) completed measures assessing the relationship of humor orientation (HO), 2 indicators of coping effectiveness, relationship satisfaction, and degree of emotional hurt caused by the transgression. Although results do not provide full support for the mediation of coping effectiveness, there is support for the influence of trait HO on coping with interpersonal transgressions and subsequent relational satisfaction in that HO was positively related to general coping efficacy and perceived situation-specific humor coping effectiveness.

The psychological immune response in the face of transgressions: Pseudo self-forgiveness and threat to belonging

Effective processing of a transgression must involve accepting responsibility for one's wrongdoing. However accepting responsibility may mean increasing the threat of social exclusion which offenders face as a result of their transgression, yet humans are fundamentally motivated to avoid this type of threat. Pseudo self-forgiveness is the use of minimization of harm, denial of wrongdoing, or victim derogation in order to release oneself from guilt and shame. This research examines the defensive psychological process of pseudo self-forgiveness and the impact of threat to belonging on a transgressor's engagement with this defensive response in both an experimental setting and real life. Study 1 used a lab based approach, manipulating the threat to belonging with an ostracism task. Ostracized participants minimized harm to the victim, reported less shame, regret and self-anger and less desire to reconcile with the victim. Study 2 followed participants over the 11days after committing an interpersonal transgression. Results of analyses with linear mixed modeling suggest that the more rejected participants felt the more they engaged in pseudo self-forgiveness. Hostile responses from the victim were positively associated with pseudo self-forgiveness and others' respectful confrontation was negatively associated with pseudo self-forgiveness. Results suggest that need for belonging is a key variable for rehabilitation after committing a transgression.

Situational, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Characteristic Associations With Adolescent Conflict Forgiveness

ABSTRACT Given the voluntary nature of adolescent friendships, forgiveness of interpersonal transgressions has been identified as a critical aspect of maintaining these relationships. However, transgression forgiveness is related to a range of situational (e.g., transgression severity), interpersonal (e.g., friendship commitment), and intrapersonal (e.g., victim's empathy) factors. Data from 161 adolescents were used to examine the nature of the relationships between these factors and forgiveness and to examine the differential association patterns for adolescent boys and girls. Results for the overall adolescent sample indicated both situational and interpersonal factor associations with forgiveness (R 2 = .52, p < .001). Examination of separate female and male forgiveness reports indicated similar interpersonal factor associations and differential situational factor associations with female (R 2 = .46, p < .001), and male (R 2 = .60, p < .001) forgiveness. Findings suggest the likelihood of forgiving may be contextually dependent, and that researchers should consider transgression, relationship, and intrapersonal characteristics when examining forgiveness. Further, the present study suggests the contextual factors associated with forgiveness may be further differentiated by gender.

Effects of a forgiveness intervention for older adults.

The authors' aim in the present study was to examine the effects of a brief forgiveness intervention for older adults. The psychoeducational group intervention consists of (a) established core components of previous forgiveness interventions and (b) additional components considering specific needs of older adults. Seventy-eight older adults (mean age 70.1 years) were randomized to a treatment condition or a waiting-list control condition. The intervention reduced the levels of perceived actual transgression painfulness, transgression-related emotions and cognitions, and negative affect. These findings suggest the promise of forgiveness interventions for older adults that help participants clarify and deal with past, present, and future interpersonal transgressions.

Self-Forgiveness and Restoration of an Offender Following an Interpersonal Transgression

While the intrapersonal benefits of self-forgiveness have begun to be explored, there is little empirical research to suggest how self-forgiveness relates to the offenders' interpersonal restoration. Furthermore self-forgiveness research has been limited by reliance on cross-sectional designs and measures that assess self-forgiveness as an end-state (i.e., a positive self). The present research adopts a process-oriented approach and conceptually distinguishes between three possible responses to the self following an interpersonal transgression: self-punitiveness, pseudo self-forgiveness and genuine self-forgiveness. Study 1, using a prospective design, indicates the limitations of end-state measures in that these fail to capture genuine self-forgiveness, and provides preliminary evidence of the benefits of genuine self-forgiveness for intrapersonal (self-esteem) and interpersonal restoration (empathy). Study 2, again with a prospective design but based on an extended measure of the tri-partite self-forgiveness concept, considered a wider range of indicators of intrapersonal and interpersonal restoration of a transgressor. Results suggest that both self-punitive and pseudo self-forgiving responses have no benefits for restoration, but some negative implications for both intra and interpersonal restoration. In contrast, genuine self-forgiveness (involving effort to work through one's offense, responsibility taking, and self-acceptance while acknowledging failure) is associated with positive restorative outcomes for both the offender and their victim.