In the fall of 2003 in Atlanta, Georgia, 65 researchers gathered to present their findings from more than 40 studies at a conference titled Scientific Findings about Forgiveness. Researchers from more than six countries, including Russia, South Africa, Italy and England participated. Their research covered the role of forgiveness in health, in our relationships, in nation-to-nation dealings and in primates.

Charlotte Witvliet of Hope College studied forgiveness, emotion and psychophysiology among victims and transgressors. People who forgave others had more positive physiological responses than those who harbored revengeful thoughts. June Tangney at George Mason University researched forgiving the self to discover the role of self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others. Her studies replicated recent research showing that people inclined to forgive others are generally well-adjusted, agreeable, other-oriented individuals with a well-developed capacity for self-control. Self-forgivers, on the other hand, tended to be self-centered, coming up short in the moral emotional domain. While they forgave themselves easily, they showed little remorse for their own transgressions and harshness in response to others’ transgressions.

Fred Luskin also studied forgiveness and relationships in a series of studies of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, which tested a specific forgiveness methodology in interpersonal relationships involving hurt among adult communities in the United States and Northern Ireland. People with unresolved hurt were taught to forgive in a group format through lecture, guided imagery, cognitive disputation and discussion. The results showed both emotional and physical benefits, from decreased feelings of hurt, depression and stress to increased feelings of optimism and willingness to forgive others.

Northern Ireland was the subject of another study by Ed Cairns on intergroup forgiveness. To understand the role of forgiveness within the context of the conflict in Northern Ireland, Cairns, who teaches at the University of Ulster, looked at intergroup and interpersonal conflict and forgiveness, finding that contact with “out-group” friends tended to correlate with forgiveness, more trust, and a more positive “out-group” attitude.

Even primates, researchers found, have a language of forgiveness. Chimpanzees, for instance, kiss and embrace after fights. Other species also show reconciling behavior. As Frans de Waal, who studies primates at the Living Links Center at Emory University, notes, “there is good evidence that reconciliation truly serves what its name suggests, i.e., the repair of social relationships. The dominant idea (known as the Valuable Relationship Hypothesis) is that reconciliation will occur whenever parties stand much to lose if their relationship deteriorates. . . . These mechanisms now seem so logical that the absence of reconciliation in a social species is considered puzzling.”

The Campaign’s ultimate goal for these scientific papers is to get findings out to the public. “We want them in the public square. We want them fighting with other scientific concepts for public attention,” Worthington says. “The obligation of the scientist,” he argues, “is not just to speak to his or her peers, but it’s also to try to translate this into something that people can use.”

At the beginning of the Campaign, Worthington said he reviewed the scientific literature and could find only 50 studies even remotely related to forgiveness. Since the Campaign’s inception, the number of citations of scientific papers has climbed to almost 4,500.