Development of Japanese Measures of Reconciliatory Tendencies: The Japanese Trait Forgivingness Scale and the Japanese Proclivity to Apologize Measure

Abstract

Reconciliation processes are influenced by two important dispositional variables: (i) the victim’s disposition to forgive the offender, and (ii) the offender’s disposition to apologize to the victim. We translated extant English measures of each of these dispositions into Japanese using the back-translation method. We then examined the validity of the two resultant measures, the Japanese Trait Forgivingness Scale (J-TFS) and the Japanese Proclivity to Apologize Measure (J-PAM). Consistent with previous findings, J-TFS scores were correlated with agreeableness, neuroticism (inversely), and subjective well-being, while J-PAM scores were correlated with agreeableness and subjective well-being. Interestingly, these two reconciliatory tendencies were positively correlated with each other, even when controlling for agreeableness (i.e., a preference for harmonious social relationships). In addition, two autobiographical recall studies (of actual instances of forgiveness and apology) confirmed the validity of these two measures. The J-TFS predicted the extent to which participants had forgiven a workplace offense inflicted by one of their co-workers, while the J-PAM predicted whether participants had apologized to their victims following a recent transgression.