Men find forgiving more difficult than women, says a study published in Social Psychological book.
The study confirms gender gap closes if men develop empathy toward an offender, by seeing they may be capable of acting in a similar way themselves.
A fact that has existed for decades, but in order to get new lovers of behavioral science to be aware of and accept some things which we earlier regarded to be untrue, that are now backed up with evidence.
This gender difference was a consistent finding in a series of seven related studies conducted between 1998 through 2005 with more than 1400 college students.
Researchers used hypothetical situations, actual recalled offenses, individual and group situations and surveys to study the ability to forgive. People of both genders tend to be more forgiving when able to identify with the offender. Empathy tends to make the offense seem less serious and easier to understand and results in people feeling more similar to those offending against them. Each of these factors is predictive of more forgiving attitudes. Researchers suggest that women are taught from an early age to be more empathetic and to prioritize relationship building.
