Our prior research has suggested that altruistic motives such as empathy and consideration were higher when the offender was a close other than when he/she was the non-close other. Based on these results, we focused on the familiarity of the victim with the offender as a factor which drives the altruistic motivation-forgiveness process, assuming that certain characteristics of the close relationship drive the altruistic motives for forgiveness. We predicted that familiarity would enhance the external attribution, and this attribution would promote altruistic motives, which in turn promotes forgiving behavior. We asked 280 Japanese undergraduates to recall a time when someone harmed them, and to rate the episode in terms of forgiveness, motives for forgiveness, attribution, and familiarity. The results of the analyses supported our hypotheses, showing that familiarity affected external attributions, and these attributions enhanced altruistic motives, and altruistic motives enhanced forgiveness. Our analyses also showed an unexpected direct association between familiarity and altruistic motives, which we address in the discussion.
行為者－観察者バイアスが低下するため、加害者に関する熟知性が高い時、それが低いよりも加害者に対する寛容性が高まると考えられる。本研究ではこれを実証するために、被害者と加害者との関係性を操作したシナリオ研究を行った。その結果、仮説と一致して、加害者に対する熟知性が高いと、加害者に対する責任帰属が低下し、その結果、寛容性が高まることが示された。
TAKADA Naomi, OHBUCHI Ken-ichi
