forgiveness
Definition
Forgiveness refers to the willingness to accept and move past transgressions by political leaders, particularly violations of trust such as dishonesty, corruption, and broken promises. This concept encompasses both ingroup bias—the tendency of voters to be more forgiving of their own party leaders compared to opposition leaders—and boundary conditions that limit forgiveness when transgressions threaten group identity or cross significant moral boundaries. Individual differences in forgiveness are shaped by pre-existing trust levels, party identification, and national identification as a superordinate identity, with pre-election trust predicting forgiveness of outgroup leaders but not ingroup leaders, suggesting that ingroup forgiveness is driven by identity maintenance pressures rather than genuine trust.
Sources: Lalot & Abrams (2025)
Related Terms
Applications
Forgiveness and Political Identity
Party identification and national identification are key predictors of voters' willingness to forgive political leaders. Party identification is negatively associated with forgiveness of outgroup leaders, while national identification—conceived as a superordinate identity—is positively associated with forgiveness.
Sources: Lalot & Abrams (2025)
Forgiveness and Trust
Pre-election trust functions as a buffer that increases willingness to forgive, with high trust translating into greater forgiveness of outgroup leaders. However, this relationship differs by target: pre-election trust strongly predicts forgiving outgroup leaders but has no statistically significant relationship with forgiving ingroup leaders.
Sources: Lalot & Abrams (2025)
Forgiveness and Transgression Severity
Boundary conditions exist to forgiveness, such that transgressions crossing significant moral boundaries or threatening the group's image may not be forgiven regardless of ingroup bias.
Sources: Lalot & Abrams (2025)
