Self-forgiveness is typically understood as a process that prevents continued engagement in negative behavior. However, it can also have a dark side in that it can lead to continuing that negative behavior. In the current research, we examined self-forgiveness in the domain of overspending—a potentially self-harming behavior. We tested whether self-forgiveness for past overspending affected future spending as a function of individual differences in incremental theories about character. In two studies, we asked participants to recall a past overspending incident as well as the degree to which they forgive themselves for this overspending, and then assessed their spending during a grocery trip immediately afterwards (Study 1) or a shopping trip in the subsequent days (Study 2). In both studies, self-forgiveness for overspending was related to greater subsequent spending among incremental theorists, but not among entity theorists. These results extend current research on self-forgiveness by demonstrating that implicit theories can determine for whom self-forgiveness fosters positive behavioral change (entity theorists) and for whom self-forgiveness may maintain the self-harming behavior (incremental theorists).

自我宽恕通常被理解为防止持续参与负面行为的过程。但是，它也可能有一个阴暗的一面，因为它可能导致持续的负面行为。在当前的研究中，我们研究了超支领域的自我宽恕-一种潜在的自我伤害行为。我们测试了对过去超支的自我宽恕是否会影响未来的支出，这是个人品格增量理论中个体差异的函数。在两项研究中，我们要求参与者回顾过去的超支事件以及他们对超支的原谅程度，然后在随后的杂货旅行（研究1）或随后的几天的购物旅行中评估他们的支出（研究2）。在两项研究中 过度支出的自我宽恕与增量理论家之间的更大后续支出有关，而与实体理论家之间的无关。这些结果证明了隐性理论可以确定谁为谁促成积极的行为改变（实体理论家）以及谁为谁维持自我伤害行为（增量理论家），从而扩展了当前对自我宽恕的研究。