Study outlines ways to help children learn forgiveness

Date:
December 8, 2021
Source:
North Carolina State University
Summary:
A recent study suggests that teaching children to understand
other people's perspectives could make it easier for them to learn
how to forgive other people. The study also found that teaching
children to make sincere apologies can help them receive forgiveness
from others.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A recent study suggests that teaching children to understand other
people's perspectives could make it easier for them to learn how to
forgive other people. The study also found that teaching children to
make sincere apologies can help them receive forgiveness from others.


========================================================================== "Forgiveness is important in children and adults for restoring
relationships and limiting future conflicts," says Kelly Lynn Mulvey,
lead author of the study and an associate professor of psychology at
North Carolina State University. "But we didn't know much about what
makes children more likely to forgive others, particularly from early
childhood to adolescence. That's what we wanted to explore with our
study." To that end, Mulvey and her collaborators enlisted 185 children, between the ages of 5 and 14, in the study. Researchers conducted in an in-depth interview with each child that collected background information
and assessed the child's "theory of mind" skills. Theory of mind is
your ability to understand that someone else's beliefs, intentions and
desires are different from your own.

Researchers then led each child through a series of scenarios involving
other children who are "in group" and "out group." Specifically,
each study participant was told they were part of a group, such as the
green team. During interviews, researchers described some children in
the scenarios as also being on the green team (making them in-group),
while other children in the scenarios were on the yellow team (making
them out-group). In each scenario, interviewers asked study participants whether they were willing to forgive a group that left them out of a
game or activity.

There were three main findings. First, children are more likely to forgive someone if they have apologized. Second, children are more likely to
forgive people who are "in group." Third, the more advanced a child's
Theory of Mind skills are, the more likely they are to forgive others.

"We found that kids have sophisticated abilities to forgive others,"
Mulvey says. "Children are capable of restoring relationships with others,
and are usually interested in doing so." The researchers identified
two things that parents and teachers may want to focus on related to forgiveness.

One is helping kids understand how important it is to apologize in a
meaningful way.

"Children are capable of discerning an insincere apology, and insincere apologies were not conducive to encouraging forgiveness," Mulvey
says. "The apology needs to make clear that someone understands why what
they did was wrong. This, in turn, makes other kids more likely to give
them a second chance." The second focus area is helping kids understand
the perspectives of other people, even if they are different from you.

"One of the biggest implications of our study is that teachers
and parents need to actively help children cultivate theory of
mind skills," Mulvey says. "A good starting point is getting kids
to explain the rationale behind their actions and how this might
make other people feel. Helping young people develop these skills
in childhood will aid them in navigating a diverse and complex world." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by North_Carolina_State_University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelly Lynn Mulvey, Sec,il Go"nu"ltaş, Emily Herry, Peter
Strelan.

The role of theory of mind, group membership, and apology in
intergroup forgiveness among children and adolescents.. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: General, 2021; DOI: 10.1037/xge0001094 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211208110307.htm

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