Abstract

MOURA, Darlene Pinho Fernandes de et al. Revenge and forgiveness: Two sides of the same coin?. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2020, vol.38, n.2, pp.229-240. ISSN 0870-8231.  https://doi.org/10.14417/ap.1610.

The desire to punish someone who has caused suffering is characterized by revenge. However, it is possible for someone to present pro-social changes in relation to the offender, which constitutes forgiveness. Studies point out that forgiveness and revenge can be understood in the opposite way and also share a common dimension. In this sense, this study aimed to compare the adjustment of a two-factor model for forgiveness and revenge with alternative explanations of one-factor and two-factor models. 195 people participated, the majority female (66.7%), heterosexual (83.2%), single (80.8%), with incomplete higher education (68.4%) and with ages between 18 and 82 years (M=27.26; SD=11.50), who to the Willingness to Forgive Scale and the Vengeance Scale. The results showed that the two-factor model was more appropriate [χ²(102)=175.639, p<0.001; χ²/gl=1.54, SRMR=0.06, CFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.061 (CI90%=0.04-0.07), TLI=0.93]. The results found suggest that, in addition to sharing a common factor, the variables seem to have legitimacy as distinct constructs, providing empirical support for the promotion of strategies aimed at intervening in both general and specific elements related to the constructs.

Keywords : Revenge; Forgiveness; Bifactor.

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