Effect of implicit and explicit prejudice on forgiveness: Comparisons between in­ group and out-group threats

Abstract

     The objectives of this research were to study the effect of implicit and explicit prejudice on implicit and explicit forgiveness of participants between threatening situations from both in-group and out-group individuals, to compare offensive appraisals with different types of threats, as well as to study the relationship between the two types of prejudice, offensive appraisal, and forgiveness. In particular, a 2 x 2 x 2 randomized block factorial experimental design was conducted to examine the impact of low/high implicit prejudice, low/high explicit prejudice, and in-group/out-group threats on implicit and explicit forgiveness. A sample of 200 undergraduate students from two public universities in Bangkok, Thailand completed the personal data questionnaire, the implicit prejudice scale, the explicit prejudice scale, the implicit forgiveness test, the explicit forgiveness test, and the offensive appraisal scales. Three-way ANOVA, t-testand Pearson's correlation coefficient were used to test the hypotheses and objectives of this research. The results showed that: 1) participants with both low implicit and explicit prejudice in the in-group threat condition had the highest implicit and explicit forgiveness levels, while participants with high implicit and explicit prejudice in the out-group threat condition had the lowest implicit and explicit forgiveness levels; 2) participants who were under the out-group threat condition, assessed the level of offensiveness significantly higher than research participants who were under the in-group threat condition, and; 3) implicit prejudice and explicit prejudice had a significantly positive correlation to the offensive appraisal score. Furthermore, the offensive appraisal score had a significantly negative correlation with implicit and explicit forgiveness.