Forgiveness Among Individuals: The Relationship Between Forgiveness and Health

Dr. McCullough was one of the pioneers in research in forgiveness, and he has maintained an active research program bringing together forgiveness with health, religion, social psychology of relationships, positive psychology, gratitude, vengeance, rumination, and even two studies on interventions. Recently, he has worked on an evolutionary basis of forgiving and reconciliation as well as boundary maintenance. His productivity has been enhanced by making frequent collaborations with highly productive researchers. Dr. McCullough is an innovative methodologist, and he has brought the latest in statistics and research design into studying how forgiveness changes over time. He has shown that people might react differently to a transgression initially, which he calls forbearance. He also examines change in forgiveness over time, which he calls trend forgiveness. Finally, he notes that people’s ratings of forgiveness might vary from day to day due to needs or daily events, which he calls temporary forgiveness. Not only has Dr. McCullough enhanced the network of forgiveness researchers through frequent and widespread collaboration, but he also has theoretically and methodologically advanced the study and understanding of forgiveness, and has popularized it through media and books. References Bono, G., & McCullough M.E. (in press). Positive responses to benefit and harm: Bringing forgiveness and gratitude into cognitive psychotherapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. Bono, G., & McCullough, M.E. (2004). Forgiveness, religion, and adjustment in olde