Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Psychology

While research examining common struggles of religious deidentification is growing, there is little research examining process variables of psychological adjustment. Individuals who deidentify from high-cost religions often experience anger or other negative emotions toward God, themselves, other individuals in the religion of origin, or the entire religion of origin. What role might forgiveness play in relation to these deidentification experiences? Event-specific forgiveness toward the self, God, specific others, and the entire community of origin was explored among 293 individuals who pulled away from ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Several factors accounted for unique variance in different types of forgiveness, which in turn had implications for mental health. In a few cases, levels of spiritual harm and abuse moderated the relationship between specific forgiveness and wellbeing outcomes. Overall, situation-specific forgiveness toward multiple transgressors may be an important factor when considering the psychological adjustment of those who pull away from high-cost religions.

Committee: Julie Exline (Advisor); Arin Connell (Committee Member); Norah Feeny (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Social Psychology; Spirituality

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact Christian couples from New Life Church in Colorado Springs through an eight-week workshop to practice prayer and risk taking to deepen their intra and interpersonal connection with each other and God. The post-test measures included qualitative measures of participants' awareness connecting their capacity to be aware of and participate with the work of the Holy Spirit. The quantitative post-test instrument showed that the participants' awareness regarding what interferes with their identity security with God was increased due to the study. The qualitative post-test instrument showed an increase in the participants' awareness regarding how their relationship with God impacted their intra and interpersonal relationships.

Committee: Shane Johnson Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Counseling Psychology; Pastoral Counseling; Spirituality

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Friendships are among the most important interpersonal relationships in emerging adulthood. Indeed, high-quality friendships have been linked to increased happiness (Demir et al., 2015) and better adjustment (Barry et al., 2016). The mechanisms that might predict these high-quality friendship experiences are not yet well-established, however. Buhrmester et al. (1988) proposed five domains of interpersonal competence (conflict management; emotional support provision; initiation; self-assertion; self-disclosure); more recent literature has identified forgiveness and gratitude as possible additional interpersonal competencies that might influence close peer relationships (see Algoe, 2012; Worthington et al., 2017). The current study examines the measurement of these seven proposed interpersonal competencies and whether they are related to emerging adults' friendship quality experiences using both in-lab (global) measures and nightly report (daily) measures. Results provide preliminary evidence suggesting that measures of Buhrmester et al.'s (1988) interpersonal competency domains, and the two additional domains of forgiveness and gratitude, are reliable, valid, and are somewhat distinct. Additionally, each of the domains of interpersonal competence was found to be relevant for the quality of emerging adults' friendship experiences, though the relevance of each domain appears to vary depending on whether one is interested in predicting positive or negative friendship experiences, and whether one examines these experiences through global reports or reports of daily experiences.

Committee: Kathryn Kerns (Advisor); Judith Gere (Committee Co-Chair); Angela Neal-Barnett (Committee Member); Nichole Egbert (Committee Member); Molly Merryman (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Religion

Finding peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has been a daunting and, thus far, impossible task for the past 75 years. Many countries have attempted to negotiate and mediate peace between the two conflict groups, including the United States, Norway, and most Arab nations. With each of these failed attempts, Israelis and Palestinians sank deeper into violence and destruction, believing that retributive justice was the only solution to this conflict. This paper addresses the possibility of a different, non-violent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – forgiveness. Forgiveness offers Israelis and Palestinians a path to peace, co-existence, and reconciliation through personal relationships that the conflict has shaped; and allows those affected by the conflict the space to acknowledge their situation and move forward peacefully. By analyzing three personal relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, I will demonstrate that interpersonal forgiveness is the most productive solution to the conflict. I will also stress that forgiveness must be had authentically by all those touched by the conflict such that each Israeli and Palestinian has the opportunity to find peace, co-existence, and reconciliation. Further, this paper provides a means of achieving interpersonal forgiveness by embracing the conditions of forgiveness – understanding, compromise, and recognition.

Committee: Corey Ladd Barnes (Committee Member); Cynthia R. Chapman (Advisor) Subjects: Peace Studies; Regional Studies; Religion

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2008, Psychology

The present study investigated how motivations underlying the decision to forgive affected outcomes for forgivers. Using a web-based study, 185 undergraduates who had been hurt by someone close to them were randomly assigned to either a control condition or a condition focusing on one of the following motivations for forgiving: personal benefit, moral obligation, and goodwill. Compared to the control group, all three forgiveness conditions reported higher forgiveness levels, more pro-forgiveness attitudes, and less negative emotions toward the transgressor. The forgiveness conditions did not differ except for perceived autonomy in the decision to forgive, for which the personal benefit group ranked highest. Gender acted as a moderator on participants' response to forgiveness conditions. Females did not respond to the conditions differently, while males in the forgiveness conditions – the goodwill condition in particular – reported higher levels of forgiveness and lower negative emotions toward the transgressor as compared to the control group.

Committee: Julie Exline PhD (Advisor); Norah Feeny PhD (Committee Member); TJ McCallum PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Personal Relationships; Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2008, Psychology

Recent literature shows that self-forgiveness may promote psychological health and well-being. Because of the potential benefits of self-forgiveness, researchers have attempted to identify factors that may facilitate the self-forgiveness process. One such facilitator may be the experience of feeling forgiven by God. Feeling forgiven by God, or the experience of divine forgiveness, has been linked with feelings of self-acceptance and other markers of well-being. Accordingly, the present study examined the relationship between divine forgiveness and self-forgiveness in two samples of participants: college students and a general sample of adults. Two hundred sixteen participants (n=108 per sample) wrote about an incident where they might have offended someone and completed questionnaires in an online format. Separate analyses were conducted for each sample of participants. Because the experience of divine forgiveness has not been studied extensively in psychological literature, as a first step the present study examined the structure of a scale that assesses people's experience of divine forgiveness. Factor analysis revealed that the experience of divine forgiveness as measured by the Divine Forgiveness Scale falls into two factors: having a positive experience of divine forgiveness versus seeing God's response as punitive. As predicted, the experience of divine forgiveness (both positive and punitive factors) predicted self-forgiveness over and above other predictors of self-forgiveness in both samples. Numerous spiritual, intrapersonal, and interpersonal factors were correlated with the experience of divine forgiveness. For example, having a positive experience of divine forgiveness was linked with greater indicators of religious commitment in both samples. Perceiving God's response as punitive was positively related to religious strain and negatively related to intrapersonal well-being in both samples.

Committee: Julie Exline (Advisor); Norah Feeny (Committee Member); TJ McCallum (Committee Member); Timothy Beal (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Psychotherapy