Toussaint Loren, Kamble Shanmukh, Marschall Justin C, Duggi Deepti B
Department of Psychology, Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA.
Department of Psychology, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India.
Int J Psychol. 2016 Aug;51(4):288-95. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12139. Epub 2015 Jan 16.
The present study offers a cross-cultural examination of the effect of prayer on forgiveness. American (n = 51) and Indian (n = 100) participants either prayed for their romantic partner (prayer condition) or described their romantic partner's physical attributes (control condition). Prayers were self-guided and lasted 3 minutes. Pre-test and post-test measures of retaliation were completed. Results showed that participants in the prayer group showed statistically significant decreases in retaliation motives from pre-test to post-test and the magnitude of this change was not different across cultures. Control groups in both cultures showed no change. Because of the religious diversity present in the Indian sample, the robustness of the effect of prayer on forgiveness was tested across Christian, Hindu and Muslim Indians. Religious affiliation did not moderate the effect of prayer on forgiveness in this sample. Results suggest that a brief prayer is capable of producing real change in forgiveness and this change is consistent across American and Indian cultures and across three different religious groups in India. Brief prayer for others that enhances forgiveness may be useful for individuals in close relationships, in certain counselling settings and for people in many different walks of life.
本研究对祈祷对宽恕的影响进行了跨文化考察。美国参与者（n = 51）和印度参与者（n = 100）要么为他们的浪漫伴侣祈祷（祈祷条件），要么描述他们浪漫伴侣的身体特征（控制条件）。祈祷是自我引导的，持续3分钟。完成了报复的前测和后测。结果表明，祈祷组的参与者从测试前到测试后报复动机有统计学上的显著下降，并且这种变化的幅度在不同文化中没有差异。两种文化中的对照组都没有变化。由于印度样本中存在宗教多样性，因此在印度的基督教、印度教和穆斯林信徒中测试了祈祷对宽恕影响的稳健性。在这个样本中，宗教信仰并没有调节祈祷对宽恕的影响。结果表明，简短的祈祷能够在宽恕方面产生真正的变化，并且这种变化在美国和印度文化以及印度的三个不同宗教群体中是一致的。为他人进行能增强宽恕的简短祈祷可能对亲密关系中的个人、某些咨询环境中的人以及许多不同行业的人有用。
