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Fairness and forgiveness: Effects of priming justice depend on justice beliefs

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Abstract

Thinking about justice can enhance or impede forgiveness of others. In this study, we show that these effects crucially depend on tendencies to believe in justice. We assessed beliefs about distributive and procedural justice for self and others among university students from the Midwestern United States. We then primed participants to think about distributive or procedural justice, either for self or others. We measured general forgiveness attitudes, as well as motivations to forgive a past transgression. Among participants who strongly believed in distributive justice for others, forgiveness was attenuated by thinking about distributive justice for others (congruence-inhibition), but accentuated by thinking about distributive justice for self, or procedural justice for others (incongruence-facilitation). Among participants who strongly believed in procedural justice for others, forgiveness was accentuated by thinking about procedural justice for self or distributive justice for others (incongruence-facilitation). Results highlight contextualized rather than rote effects of justice on forgiveness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Todd Lucas & Caroline E. Drolet

  2. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Peter Strelan

  3. Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

    Johan C. Karremans

  4. University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Robbie M. Sutton

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  1. Todd Lucas
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  2. Caroline E. Drolet
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  3. Peter Strelan
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  4. Johan C. Karremans
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Correspondence to Todd Lucas.

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Lucas, T., Drolet, C.E., Strelan, P. et al. Fairness and forgiveness: Effects of priming justice depend on justice beliefs. Curr Psychol 41, 6336–6347 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01101-8

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