Forgiveness is a positive method of dealing with an offense that includes a decisional and an emotional phase. How these two types of forgiveness interact in the forgiveness process remains unclear. In this longitudinal study we focused on decisional forgiveness. We provided evidence of how decisional forgiveness occurs over time; whether it is a deliberate choice or not; and the influence of making a decision to forgive on the forgiveness motivations. A total of 191 undergraduate students completed measures of forgiveness after receiving an offense and four more times over approximately two weeks (i.e. 2, 5, 8, and 12 days after the offense). Results indicated that decisional forgiveness is an early-phased step that occurred within the first two days after the offense; the decision to forgive was not conditioned by severity of the offense nor by the relationship with the offender; and that the decisional forgiveness predicted benevolence. Implications of how decisional forgiveness becomes an important step in the forgiveness process are discussed.

宽恕是处理冒犯的一种积极方法，包括决定和情绪阶段。这两种宽恕在宽恕过程中如何相互作用尚不清楚。在这项纵向研究中，我们专注于决策宽恕。我们提供了决定性宽恕如何随着时间的推移而发生的证据；是否有意选择；以及做出宽恕决定对宽恕动机的影响。共有 191 名本科生在受到冒犯后完成了宽恕措施，并在大约两周内（即冒犯后 2、5、8 和 12 天）完成了四次宽恕措施。结果表明，决定性宽恕是发生在犯罪后前两天内的早期阶段；宽恕的决定不以罪行的严重程度或与罪犯的关系为条件；决定性的宽恕预示着仁慈。讨论了决定性宽恕如何成为宽恕过程中重要步骤的含义。