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Introduction
The need to belong and to forgiveness is what this article discusses. Individuals
need to feel they belong. The feeling of belonging helps individuals to feel better about
themselves and have a better outcome in life. When people feel the need to belong,
they may tend to forgive people even though they don’t want to, so that they can keep
the bond that they have with that individual. The authors found that individuals high in
need to belong report practicing forgiveness with less frequency and value it no more
than those low in the need to belong. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) It is
important for a person to have a relationship with another person that they can trust and
rely on. When a person feels that they want to end a relationship because of wrong
doings, it is hard for them to find another relationship that they have the feeling of
belonging to. If people responded to all interpersonal conflicts by ending their
relationships to start over with new ones, they would be in a perpetual state of seeking
belongingness but never experience it. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) A
way to deal with relationship difficulties is to forgive wrongdoers.
Purpose
The purpose of this article was to conduct a study on how the need to belong
relates to forgiveness. This study was conducted by using different methods and
measures by asking participants questions on the need to belong and forgiveness. The
individual difference in the need of belonging and attachment was also looked at.
Attachment, social rejection, social acceptance, and aggressions were also looked at in
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the study. This article was to help individuals to understand how forgiving another
individual can be hard when an individual needs to keep the relationship. Doing this
would help to understand why individuals feel the need to belong and how important it is
to an individual.
Hypothesis
The article is providing information on whether forgiveness is positively or
negatively associated with the need to belong. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman,
2010) The article provides information on how forgiveness tendencies and attitudes
from individuals affect an individual's way of forgiving.
Sample
There were three different studies conducted to provide information on how
individuals feel the need to belong and how being able to forgive another individual is
affected. In Study 1, the design of this study was to examine the link between needing
to belong, forgiveness tendencies, and forgiveness attitudes. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown,
& Osterman, 2010) People have a tendency to need to belong and value relationships
and the behavior of the individual is to forgive. In Study 2, a manipulation with the goal
of satisfying belongingness needs in one group of participants and comparing their
forgiveness of several hypothetical offenses to those participants whose belongingness
needs were left unaltered. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) In Study 3, the
researchers focused on reactions to negative relationship events such as anger, fear,
and sadness. With the studies being done, they will help others to understand how
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individuals are affected by having a sense of belonging. The studies will also help
individuals to understand how forgiveness affects relationships and how emotions can
cause issues with relationships.
Measures
The measures that were done in these studies were conducted differently to
show how individuals are affected. In Study 1, participants were given course credit for
taking part in the study, in small groups of 1 to 4, participants completed the following
scales as part of a larger study of forgiveness. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman,
2010) Participants self-esteem was measured with the 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem
Scale, Six-item Attitudes toward forgiveness scale, the need to belong were assessed
with the 10-item Need to Belong Scale, and attachment was rated on a scale ranging
from 1 to , using Bartholomew and Horowitz’s instrument. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, &
Osterman, 2010) These studies and assessments of the scales gave researchers the
information that they needed to see on how individuals have a strong need of belonging
and how they were able to forgive or not to forgive.
Procedures
In Study 1, participants were 163 undergraduates from a University and the
participants completed scales as a large part of a study. Self-Esteem, Forgiveness,
Need to belong, Attachment were all measured by using a scale ranging 1 (strongly
agree) to 7 (strongly disagree). (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) With this
study, participants showed that they would forgive people who were their romantic
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partners and it was better for their mental health. In Study 2, a manipulation was used to
have a goal of temporarily satisfying the need to belong in one group and in the other
group, comparison was done by predicting forgiveness and whose needs were left
unattended. In Study 3, negative relationship events were looked at and how individuals
showed different types of emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness. These studies
will help the researchers to find out information that will help us to understand why some
individuals will forgive individuals that hurt them. This research will also help us to
understand how individuals are affected by not having the relationship they need to feel
they belong.
Results
These studies found that the need for belonging and forgiveness are not ways for
individuals to establish good relationships. The reason for this is because in Study 1,
those who have the strong need to belong are more inclined to hold grudges than to
forgive those who have wronged them. (Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) In
Study 2, participants in the satisfied belongingness condition who focused on an
important close relationship indicated that they would be more forgiving of the offenses.
(Barnes, Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) This study also showed that participants
that need the sense of belonging had significantly higher chronic forgiveness
tendencies. Participants who were satisfied were able to forgive individuals for their
wrongdoings. In Study 3, only anger and offense were significant and the other
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remaining mediators were significant above and beyond anger and severity. (Barnes,
Carvallo, Brown, & Osterman, 2010) People that have anger will withhold forgiveness
so that they can be accepted and not be rejected because they do not want to make
them angry or not have a relationship with that person.
Practical Significance
This study is meaningful because it helps us to understand how important it is for
an individual to have a relationship with another individual. The study is also to help us
to learn how to work through issues that arise among a relationship and to be able to
keep the relationship. The study is also to help us to understand what a sense of
belonging does to an individual and how it affects them if they belong or are being
rejected by another individual. Forgiveness is a hard thing to do for individuals but there
are many ways that individuals handle how to forgive other individuals.
