Preferential Forgiveness: The Impact of Group Membership and Remorse on Preschoolers' Forgiveness

Forgiveness helps repair ruptured relationships and maintain cooperation. It may most usefully serve these functions when it is preferentially directed toward better cooperators. We examined this proposal in two studies with young children. Study 1 asked whether children forgive in-group members (whom people generally expect to be more cooperative) more than out-group members. When a novel in-group member and out-group member both transgressed against the child and both showed remorse, 5-year-old children (N = 20) were more forgiving of the in-group member. In Study 2, when only the out-group transgressor was remorseful whereas the in-group transgressor was unremorseful (and did not demonstrate cooperative intent), 5-year-olds (N = 20) were more forgiving of the remorseful out-group transgressor. Children also judged the unremorseful in-group transgressor negatively and wanted her to leave their group. Together, these results reveal that from early in life, forgiveness is preferentially directed so as to maximize successful cooperation while reducing the risk of exploitation.