We review the logic of an evolutionary perspective on forgiveness, highlighting how insight into the likely function of forgiveness — solving adaptive problems related to acquiring and maintaining social relationships — has productively guided research and theory. A combination of experimental, longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-cultural evidence supports the claim that victims' perceptions of harmdoers’ relationship value and exploitation risk causally influence whether or not victims forgive harmdoers. We also review the nascent literature on the topic of intergroup forgiveness and consider how the concepts associated with interpersonal forgiveness, such as apologies, relationship value, and exploitation risk, might help us understand forgiveness between groups, cultures, and societies. Finally, we explore the intersection of evolutionary and cultural perspectives on forgiveness, and consider how concepts from these two research traditions might be integrated to help us understand forgiveness even better.

我们回顾了关于宽恕的进化观点的逻辑，强调洞察宽恕的可能功能——解决与获得和维持社会关系相关的适应性问题——如何有效地指导研究和理论。实验、纵向、横断面和跨文化证据的结合支持了这样一种说法，即受害者对伤害者的关系价值和剥削风险的看法会因果影响受害者是否原谅伤害者。我们还回顾了有关群体间宽恕这一主题的新生文献，并考虑与人际宽恕相关的概念，如道歉、关系价值和剥削风险，如何帮助我们理解群体、文化和社会之间的宽恕。最后，