"Is There a Role for Forgiveness & Spirituality in Coping with Combat Trauma?"
Ming Tsuang, M.D., Ph.D., at the Harvard Institute for Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, proposes to describe an empirical investigation of the role of forgiveness in coping with trauma associated with military service in Vietnam. The overall objective is to use unique methodology to draw general conclusions regarding the actual and potential roles of forgiveness for coping with combat and other traumatic, life-threatening experiences. This study will utilize the VET Registry to identify and interview 170 pairs of identical twins, one of which will have had combat exposure while the other twin will not have served in Vietnam. Research References

"Truth & Forgiveness in South Africa: A Multidisciplinary Approach"
Audrey Chapman, Ph.D., representative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will work with members of the government of South Africa to analyze the transcripts of the testimonies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the grand political experiment of our time. President Mandela, instead of seeking to purge the country of people who embraced apartheid (literally apartness of the races), sought to heal the wounds of the people through setting up a political process that encouraged confession of political crimes and the granting of amnesty in return for speaking the truth. As hundreds of people in South Africa have testified in TRC hearings, tales of horrible wrongdoings and responses of moving forgiveness have come forth. Chapman hopes to discover some of the qualities of the human spirit that can promote forgiveness in the face of grief, loss, and horror through analyzing transcripts of testimonies. Research References

"Forgiveness & the Reduction of Intergroup Conflict"
Ed Cairns, Ph.D., at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in the Centre for the Study of Conflict, seeks to provide the first extensive theoretical and empirical study of intergroup forgiveness within Northern Ireland. One of this study's ideas is that much of our social behavior is determined by our social group. Thus we are more likely to forgive acts of violence committed by one of our own group than by someone with whom we did not associate. Utilizing eight studies, Cairns proposes to show that under appropriate conditions the differences between any two groups will not be perceived, and this will bring about a reconciliation. Research References

"Forgiveness & the Truth & Reconciliation Commission in South Africa"
Jeffrey Sonis, Ph.D., in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan, proposes to study the potential role of forgiveness in improving racial and ethnic tension. He will also provide practical information to South Africa on the efficacy of the Truth and Reconciliation process. Doing so may serve long-term societal aims such as prevention of cycles of revenge, and development of faith in the structure of the government. This study will identify and follow victims of human rights abuses, half of whom testified before the TRC and half of whom did not. Research References

"Healing, Forgiveness, & Reconciliation in Rwanda"
Ervin Staub, Ph.D., in the Department of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst, is part of the Trauma, Research, Education, and Training Institute. He and a team of researchers seek to investigate whether-and if so, how-forgiveness can possibly occur in Rwanda. He will constitute groups of Hutus, of Tutsis, and of mixtures of the tribes. People who did not directly participate in the massacres are included so that victims and families of those killed can more easily come to forgive members of the other tribe. Research References

"Forgiveness from Evolutionary & Cross-cultural Perspective"
David Sloan Wilson, Ph.D., in the Department of Biological Sciences at Binghamton University, proposes to study whether forgiveness is essential to adaptive moral systems in cultures around the world. Morality will be explained as an evolved set of traits that causes whole groups to function as adaptive units, and the way tendencies to forgive are used as building blocks to preserve order within and between smaller societies throughout human history. The ability of people to form into functionally integrated social groups is a broad development in evolutionary biology that provides the foundation for the research. Research References