The act of forgiving someone for causing you harm makes forgetting the painful experience of that harm easier for us, according to a psychology study at University of St Andrews in Scotland. The researchers found that victims of a transgression may find it easier to let go of memories of what happened if they have forgiven the mistake.
From the abstract, which is behind a paywall:
Forgiveness is considered to play a key role in the maintenance of social relationships, the avoidance of unnecessary conflict, and the ability to move forward with one's life. But why is it that some people find it easier to forgive and forget than others? In the current study, we explored the supposed relationship between forgiveness and forgetting. In an initial session, 30 participants imagined that they were the victim in a series of hypothetical incidents and indicated whether or not they would forgive the transgressor. Following a standard think/no-think procedure, in which participants were trained to think or not to think about some of these incidents, more forgetting was observed for incidents that had been forgiven following no-think instructions compared with either think or baseline instructions. In contrast, no such forgetting effects emerged for incidents that had not previously been forgiven. These findings have implications for goal-directed forgetting and the relationship between forgiveness and memory.
Here's a fee-free synopsis in the Telegraph.
Here's a related study I found interesting: forgiving yourself, and making amends, may have profound effects on psychological well-being. An interesting validation of a principle in 12-step recovery programs and various spiritual practices.
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