Citation

Struthers CW, Khoury CH, Phills CE, van Monsjou E, Guilfoyle JR, Nash K, Golenitski V, Summers C. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 2019; 25(1): 100-116.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/xap0000188

PMID

30284852

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test how, why, and when social power influences victims' revenge seeking, grudge holding, and forgiveness. Based on Keltner, Gruenfeld, and Anderson's (2003) power approach theory and McCullough, Kurzban, and Tabak's (2013) theorizing about revenge and forgiveness systems, we tested (a) the associations between victims' social power and revenge, grudge, and forgiveness; (b) the mediational role of approach/inhibition motivation in explaining why the associations exist; and (c) the moderating role of whether the transgressor apologizes or not in explaining the associations. Five studies (Ns = 279, 181, 154, 131, and 81) that varied in sample (undergraduate, community), research method (nonexperimental, experimental), context (laboratory, online), measures (self-reported, behavioral), and statistical method (regression, ANOVA), supported our predictions and the systematic generalizability of the effects. Applied implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en