The Science of Forgiveness with Everett Worthington

I’m joined by one of the world’s leading experts in the field of forgiveness research, Everett Worthington. Everett is a Commonwealth Professor Emeritus working from the Department of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a licensed clinical psychologist. He has published over 38 books and over 440 articles and scholarly chapters, mostly on forgiveness, humility, positive psychology, marriage, family, and religion and spirituality. He has also developed the REACH Forgiveness model, which is supported by more than 25 randomized trials. Everett generously gives away free self-help workbooks on practices including forgiveness, humility, and patience, which are linked in the show notes. Our conversation explores the overlap of spiritual and scientific approaches to forgiveness, dealing with injustice, overcoming grudges, ruminations and emotional unforgiveness, empathy and cognitive biases, self-forgiveness, discerning genuine forgiveness from self-deceit, plus a Everett’s moving account of applying the wisdom of forgiveness following his mother’s murder. And just a reminder before we jump into the conversation to please like, rate, subscribe and share to help more people access the podcast. Enjoy! Resources Website: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness... Free Workbooks: https://www.evworthington-forgiveness... 00:00 Intro 02:00 Background in Christianity and Clinical Psychology 09:00 Spiritual and Scientific Approaches to Forgiveness 13:15 The Ego's Concept of Forgiveness and Rumination 15:00 Two Types: Emotional Forgiveness and Decision to Forgive 19:30 Dealing With Injustice 21:30 Resentment and Vengeance 25:00 Studies On Perception of Injustice 32:00 REACH Forgiveness and Ev's Mother's Murder 38:00 Steps To Forgiveness 42:00 Forgiveness Doesn't Negate Justice 47:00 Genuine Forgiveness and Self-Deceit 52:00 Stimulus and Conditioned Responses 57:00 Forgiveness Is Hard 1:00:00 Third-Person Forgiveness and Time as Healing #forgiveness #psychology #spiritualpractice