Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving
The process of forgiving seems to require that a person can remember a specific moment in their personal past in which they were harmed in some way. Forgiving, then, often requires episodic memory, which may be understood as memory of events or experiences in one’s personal past. What is it that gro...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad de los Andes
2023-10-01
|
| Series: | Revista de Estudios Sociales |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/res/article/view/1576/8873 |
| _version_ | 1797637840355459072 |
|---|---|
| author | Christopher Jude McCarroll Roy Dings |
| author_facet | Christopher Jude McCarroll Roy Dings |
| author_sort | Christopher Jude McCarroll |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The process of forgiving seems to require that a person can remember a specific moment in their personal past in which they were harmed in some way. Forgiving, then, often requires episodic memory, which may be understood as memory of events or experiences in one’s personal past. What is it that grounds acts of forgiveness? One of the most prominent ideas is that, fundamentally, forgiveness involves a change in emotion; it requires that negative emotions associated with the event are abandoned, withdrawn or overcome. In this paper, we outline one way in which the emotion and meaning of past events may be modulated. In particular, we suggest that by thinking more abstractly about an event we can shift our emotional response to it. We outline one way in which this form of more abstract thinking, which can help us distance ourselves from the negative emotion associated with a past wrongdoing, can show up in memory. We propose that emotionally distant memories, or memories in which the emotional content has undergone some change, may often be recalled from an observer perspective, in which the individual recalls the event from an external or detached point of view. Recalling a past wrongdoing from an observer memory may help put it into perspective and afford the emotional distancing required to facilitate forgiveness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:55:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6981b96e1bd40fa8ea06186f2aa8a3a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0123-885X 1900-5180 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:55:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de los Andes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revista de Estudios Sociales |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6981b96e1bd40fa8ea06186f2aa8a3a2023-11-03T19:31:45ZengUniversidad de los AndesRevista de Estudios Sociales0123-885X1900-51802023-10-0186132810.7440/res86.2023.02Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and ForgivingChristopher Jude McCarroll0Roy Dings1National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, TaiwánRuhr-Universität Bochum, AlemaniaThe process of forgiving seems to require that a person can remember a specific moment in their personal past in which they were harmed in some way. Forgiving, then, often requires episodic memory, which may be understood as memory of events or experiences in one’s personal past. What is it that grounds acts of forgiveness? One of the most prominent ideas is that, fundamentally, forgiveness involves a change in emotion; it requires that negative emotions associated with the event are abandoned, withdrawn or overcome. In this paper, we outline one way in which the emotion and meaning of past events may be modulated. In particular, we suggest that by thinking more abstractly about an event we can shift our emotional response to it. We outline one way in which this form of more abstract thinking, which can help us distance ourselves from the negative emotion associated with a past wrongdoing, can show up in memory. We propose that emotionally distant memories, or memories in which the emotional content has undergone some change, may often be recalled from an observer perspective, in which the individual recalls the event from an external or detached point of view. Recalling a past wrongdoing from an observer memory may help put it into perspective and afford the emotional distancing required to facilitate forgiveness.https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/res/article/view/1576/8873construal level theoryemotionsforgivenessmemoryobserver perspective |
| spellingShingle | Christopher Jude McCarroll Roy Dings Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving Revista de Estudios Sociales construal level theory emotions forgiveness memory observer perspective |
| title | Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving |
| title_full | Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving |
| title_fullStr | Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving |
| title_full_unstemmed | Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving |
| title_short | Putting the Past into Perspective. Remembering, Reappraising, and Forgiving |
| title_sort | putting the past into perspective remembering reappraising and forgiving |
| topic | construal level theory emotions forgiveness memory observer perspective |
| url | https://revistas.uniandes.edu.co/index.php/res/article/view/1576/8873 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christopherjudemccarroll puttingthepastintoperspectiverememberingreappraisingandforgiving AT roydings puttingthepastintoperspectiverememberingreappraisingandforgiving |