The Benefits of Forgiving: Young Children Respond Positively to Those Who Forgive

Forgiveness helps to repair relationships and thus helps maintain cooperation. Might forgiveness also convey to others that the forgiver is a valuable cooperation partner? We propose that if victims' forgiveness displays have evolved as important social cues that help uphold cooperation, then even young children might respond positively to forgiveness displays. In a preregistered study, 4- and 5-year-olds (n = 20 per age group) watched videos of transgressions in which the victim either forgave or did not forgive the transgressor. As predicted, 5-year-olds robustly preferred the forgiver, expected the transgressor to like the forgiver more, and thought the nonforgiver would be more likely to transgress in the future. Four-year-olds did not show these effects as consistently. Both age groups distributed more resources to the forgiving victim. Thus, from an early age, forgiveness displays convey key information to others about the forgiver and may therefore help to repair relationships and promote cooperation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).