Tsang, Jo-Ann C.Carpenter, Thomas P. (Thomas Philip)2013-05-152013-05-152012-122013-05-15http://hdl.handle.net/2104/8567Self-forgiveness has been promoted as a self-compassionate response following ownership of one’s transgressions. However, a sense of self-forgiveness may also result from defensive processes that circumvent responsibility, dubbed "pseudo self-forgiveness" (Hall & Fincham, 2005). Following self-affirmation theory, I predicted that responsibility avoidance and perceptions of self-forgiveness would be reduced if self-image is protected. Participants (66 male, 47 female) were given either affirming or non-affirming personality feedback and were led to believe they had let down a fictitious partner. Affirmed men expressed less self-forgiveness, mediated by increased responsibility. These effects were not observed among women. Findings suggest some apparent self-forgiveness may reflect ego-defensive attempts to avoid accountability; however, more research is needed. Implications for self-forgiveness theory and measurement are discussed.en-USBaylor University theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact librarywebmaster@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.Self-forgiveness.Moral emotion.Responsibility.Self-affirmation.Pseudo self-forgiveness.ThesisWorldwide access.Access changed 5/21/14.